


How behavior affects relationships

by Rogercat



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anti Rhaegar Targaryen, Conflict of Interests, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Cultural Differences, Disabled Character, Elfhild is alive, Elia Martell Deserves Better, Elia Martell-centric, F/M, Family Drama, Female Character of Color, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Great Moraq, Healthy Relationships, Horse Olympics, Horseback Riding, Horses, Immaturity, Irresponsibility, Lysa married to Stannis, Marriage, Mellario and Doran have a good marriage, Minor Brandon Stark/Catelyn Tully Stark, Minor Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen, Modern Royalty, Multi, Mya and Gendry share a mother, No Incest, Not For Rhaegar Fans, Not for R+L fans, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Physical Disability, Post-Divorce, Remarriage, Rhaegar Targaryen Bashing, Rhaegar Targaryen Being an Asshole, Rhaella Targaryen Lives, Rhaelle lives, Théodred have cousins, Viserys is NOT impressed by his brother's actions, Viserys is mentally healthy, Widowed Rhaella, actions have consequences, all four of Théoden's sisters live, anti lyanna stark, not for lyanna fans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23012083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: After a quick help from Rhaella in fixing a divorce from Rhaegar to avoid the shame of being replaced with Lyanna Stark, Elia found a new love and far more healthier marriage with Théodred, the Prince of Rohan.But the Targaryen King is not happy over that she got away from him, and that her children is now adopted into the royal family of Rohan...
Relationships: Aegon VI Targaryen & Rhaenys Targaryen (Daughter of Elia), Daeron Targaryen (Son of Aegon V) & Rhaelle Targaryen, Doran Martell & Elia Martell & Oberyn Martell, Elfhild & Théodred (Tolkien), Elfhild/Théoden Ednew, Elia Martell & Rhaella Targaryen, Elia Martell/Théodred (Tolkien), Jeremy Norridge/Daeron Targaryen (Son of Aegon V), Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen, Lysa Tully Arryn/Stannis Baratheon
Comments: 223
Kudos: 187
Collections: Southern Renaissance (Dorne Renaissance)





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostchildofthenewworld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostchildofthenewworld/gifts).



> Gift for lostchildofthenewworld, thanks to your lovely tale of Elia finding a better husband in sultan Mehmed of Great Moraq, so he and his sister Jade have the honor of being the hosts of where the Horse Olympics is set in this story 
> 
> please notice: I made Lyanna one year older than in canon, in order for her to already be a legal adult by thr standards of Westeros at the beginning of this story at the age of 16, since Rhaegar otherwise would find it very hard to replace Elia with a minor

The moment Rhaella was awakened by a maid and learned about her oldest son vanishing with the Stark girl, she knew that a disaster was on the edge. Thankfully, Aerys were still asleep in his own bedchamber after leaving her somewhere around midnight, which would give her some time to hopefully lessen the damage that was bound to happen. Dressing herself in a dressing-gown and soft sandals to not get literally cold feet from the stone floor, joined by the maid and a common guard to ensure that she was not alone, Rhaella hurried to where her daughter-in-law and grandchildren had their chambers. 

  
  


She was not surprised to see who that was guarding the doors there. 

“Prince Lewyn,” she addressed the Prince of Dorne who had joined the Kingsguard not long before the marriage between his niece and her son, “could you please pack the most essential for a quick flight to Dorne?”

“My sweet niece just told me the same, your majesty. She will not accept this course of action from her husband. My paramour and our children will meet us at the royal airport with the private flights of the royal family,” he responded with a bow to her. Rhaella did not question that he had a paramour or that he even had sired children on her, Leywn was unmarried and therefore Dorne accepted that relationship. If he had been married, it would have been seen as cheating on a legal spouse instead. 

Inside the chambers, Elia and her Dornish ladies-in-waiting was busy packing hers and the children's clothes, and a few private items. Rhaenys and Aegon were still sleeping in their little beds, with the black kitten named Balerion watching it all from his little mistress' bed. They all stopped to greet Rhaella with a curtsy. 

“I will not prevent you from leaving, Elia. My son have broken his marriage vows of faithfulness, the daughter of House Stark disgracing both her birth family and House Baratheon as she was set to marry lord Robert, and there will be unpleasant rumours once this comes out in the media. It is better to make it seem like you and Rhaegar had a quiet divorce over that he has... **_unrealistic expectations_ ** about your fertility and sadly thought of you as less important than his obsession with having House Targaryen grow in numbers again as soon as possible.” 

Elia looked at her mother-in-law, then carefully nodded in agreement. Rhaella was a distant cousin to Aerys, the only female relative close in age for him to marry when they both were of legal age. But their arranged marriage were not happy, for Rhaegar and their youngest son Viserys were seventeen years apart in age, with a lot of miscarriages and stillbirths between. Elia had been chosen as a bride for Rhaegar in the same manner, for the distant Targaryen blood in her veins and old enough to be able of becoming pregnant from the wedding night. 

“But for that, I need…”

Again Rhaella proved herself to have been thinking ahead, therefore bringing with her a set of papers that had already been prepared before the royal marriage. 

“Rhaegar did not even look up from his books to see what sort of papers I asked him to sign the week before your wedding. You only need to sign them as well, and I will let the media learn about them in the morning.” 

Elia looked over the divorce papers. It surprised her to see that they stated her right to have individual custody of the children she gave birth to in the marriage, and that if she died, her brothers or other Martell relatives would be the guardians for said children, Rhaegar having no rights to them after the divorce. 

“I will ask Doran to grant you and Viserys permission to visit us in Dorne once this storm have calmed down a bit, so they will know their grandmother and uncle for real,” she promised Rhaella as she signed the papers. All it took, was to sign her full name three times, one on a paper that would be brought with her to Dorne, one copy for the High Septon and the final one to be left to Rhaegar as a unspoken proof of that their marriage was over for real, that she as a Princess of Dorne would not accept him shaming her with a mistress that one day might threaten her own children though the birth of a royal bastard. How could Rhaegar forget history, how the Blackfyres had been a threat to the sons of Myriah Martell, the Dornish princess who had wed Daeron II? Once that was done, they made a final check to ensure that nothing was missing. Seeing the black kitten leaving his litter box, Ashara Dayne quickly put the protesting Balerion in a transport cage, which naturally woke up Rhaenys. 

“Mom…?” 

“We will go on a adventure, Rhaenys. But you must be quiet, for we need to sneak out as part of it. Balerion is just unhappy that he must travel in a cage so we can bring him along and not risk losing him somewhere,” Ashara hurried to explain over the furious hissings from Balerion inside the transport cage, which got the attention of the two-year-old. 

“Weally?!”

“Yes, sweetie. You, Aegon and your mother will have some fun. I can not go, for I am having a cold on its way,” Rhaella joined in, all the women realizing the importance of trying to not have Aerys learn of those plans. She even placed a small tablecloth over the transport cage in a attempt to make Balerion calm down a bit. 

“Elia? Everyone? We must go now while it is a swift in the guards. Though the old tunnels that is meant as a escape route in case of attack,” Lewyn requested, and Elia picked up her sleeping son from his cradle. Rhaella kissed both her grandchildren on the forehead in goodbye, and then the same on Elia as a blessing for good luck.

“I will ensure that the High Septon will make it... **_harder_ ** for Rhaegar to replace Lyanna Stark with a new wife, if he now intends to make her his new queen instead of you based on the very weak ground of her being younger and seems to be in better health. Given how she is said to behave at the Tourney at Harrendal last year, I seriously doubts that she might even realize the reality of being a queen consort.” 

For the first time that night, Elia smirked in a way that reminded everyone of that she was the sister of Oberyn Martell, and his nickname Red Viper. 

“That will be a good punishment for that idiot you have to call your son of flesh and blood. Finding himself chained for life to a highly unsuitable wife with no way out of the marriage, because their personalities are bound to crash, I know that somehow.“

Lyanna Stark may be of age now when she was sixteen years old, but that did not mean that she was mature enough to face the reality of what would await her as the new wife of Rhaegar. By vanishing with the crown prince, she had broken her intended marriage to Robert Baratheon and would not be able to beg him to take her as his wife if she was left a widow after Rhaegar, for her own actions would undoubtedly reveal her true personality

Lewyn handed over the white cloak of the Kingsguard to Rhaella, a unspoken resignment as he would rather be called a unfaithful knight than serving the now former husband of his niece, who had proven himself to sadly be his father's son instead of the promising better king everyone had thought him to become. 

As Lewyn passed Rhaella at the door, he whispered: 

“You will be a widow by dawn, I promise. It was why I had my second daughter Holly paint your nails with that nail colour yesterday and let Aerys unknowingly make this his final night alive as soon as your nails touched his skin. That toxic leaves the female body naturally by the moon blood, but it remains in the male body as there is no...natural way for the blood to leave.”

She said nothing, knowing that her moon blood would arrive tomorrow if she was not wrong. Feeling as if she had a incoming cold was one of the signs of that toxic entering the body, and in males it would look like a death of heart attack if it was not removed within the following six hours. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

A few hours later, Old Palace in Sunspear, the capital of Dorne: 

Doran and Oberyn was in agreement that this week had been a good one. They had managed to make a trade deal about horse breeding with the Kingdom of Rohan, far away past most eastern part of Essos. Despite Rohan being so far away from Dorne, the horses in that kingdom was famous across the world, some of them even being sold to the sultan of Great Moraq to bring in new blood in the horses there. 

“Our guest is far more likeable than our brother-in-law, I must say. It is a shame that we do not have a second sister, or that this agreement did not happen before Elia married Rhaegar…” 

“Hoping to play matchmaker if we can free Elia from her Targaryen marriage, brother?” Oberyn joked in good humor, earning a light hit on his arm from Doran as they walked towards the dining room for a shared breakfast with their family and guests. 

“I will let Elia know though Ellaria that you tried to have the prince of Rohan join you in bed already on the first day, because you  **_found him very attractive_ ** **,** ” Doran responded as a friendly threat, knowing very well that his younger brother had always been drawn to both men and women although he did found himself a paramour in Ellaria Sand a few months ago. 

The crown prince of Rohan, Théodred, had been their guest here for the past week, helping out with the discussion on how it would look like in the finished agreement.

“Doran! Oberyn!”

The distressed calling from their father Ihsan, the former Prince consort of Dorne, stopped any friendly sibling fight between them. It was alarming at how terrified Ihsan sounded as he called for his sons, not helped by the wheezing sounds of his asthma acting up as well. 

“Father?!” 

They found Ihsan supporting himself against a pillar, gasping for breath, the private cell phone in his hand revealing the faint voice of their maternal uncle Lewyn. 

“Elia...Elia is in the Sunspear hospital….something happened when she left the flight...losing blood…” 

Horror dawned on the Martell brothers at recalling that their sister was not only one month premature which had always affected her health despite the help of modern medicine, she did also have a very rare blood type that did make things a lot more difficult for a blood transfusion. 

“ _ Ihsan, are you still there? Doran? Oberyn? She needs a donor with blood type AB-negative at once, if she shall survive, there is only one bag of donated blood yet and it will not be enough! _ ”

“What is going on?” 

It was Théodred who had left his guest chamber, and found his hosts looking like they just had heard some unwelcome news. 

“Our sister Elia is in the hospital after suddenly collapsing from what Rhoyne suspects is a dose of moon tea that must have been hidden in one of the drinks Elia had yesterday evening, and she needs donated blood from the rare blood type of AB-negative…” 

Théodred realized at once what might happen. 

“ **_Get me there, right away! I have that blood type!_ ** ”

After maybe a moment of shock over the past words, Oberyn pulled Théodred along towards the lower palace levels where the family cars would be.

“Do not end up with some kind of fine for careless driving, Oberyn!” 

Not that Ihsan cared about whatever Oberyn heard the warning, Elia had to be saved if they could ensure it with the help of Théodred. A couple of bodyguards was sent after the two princes as Doran helped his father find the asthma medicine Ihsan had dropped somewhere in his search for his sons. 

  
  
  
  


That morning, every newspaper in Westeros was filled with the news of Aerys Targaryen being found dead in his sleep from a heart attack, the divorce between Rhaegar and Elia. That he would replace her with Lyanna Stark, sending her in disgrace back to Dorne with the two children she had given him in the thirty months their marriage had lasted. Only in Dorne, the evening newspaper told of how Princess Elia was saved from death that morning in the hospital by a direct blood donation from the Prince of Rohan, thanks to sharing the same rare blood type.


	2. Her second wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elia on the day of her second wedding

Three years had now passed since Rhaella had helped Elia break free from the chains of her marriage to Rhaegar, so she could escape the shame of him openly showing off Lyanna Stark as a mistress or be replaced by the wolf-girl as a royal wife in way that would only humiliating her. During those 36 months, a lot of things had happened in both Westeros and the rest of the known world: 

As reaction on how Rhaegar treating Elia as if she was just a replaceable piece of furniture that he had grown tired of, and starting over with a new wife like Rhaenys and Aegon was some form of mistake, Dorne had closed all its borders though the Red Mountains, the Prince's Pass and the Boneway now carefully guarded by the Dornish to not let anyone from Westeros enter there. Believing that Dorne would crawl back on their bare knees and ask for his forgiveness after a period of limited trade, Rhaegar had also doubled their taxes, intending to use the money to pay for his coronation once the mourning period for Aerys had passed. 

But that had only proved that the new Targaryen King really failed to realize that it was not the Middle Ages anymore, or that he did not have the same absolute power as his ancestors once had done. Dorne was the southernmost part of Westeros, and its location ensured that they would trade with Essos and the rest of the known world. 

In fact, Rhaegar's whole behavior of replacing a legal wife with a mistress, and then openly saying in front of the whole royal court that he needed more children than the two Elia had given him, where ambassadors could hear it and no one stopping them from telling this to their own rulers, only proved the world-wide view of Westeros as a realm trapped in time which belonged in history, with outdated laws, customs and not understanding how the modern world worked. He also made himself a laughing stock when, at learning that Dorne made itself independent in response for how Elia and her children had been treated, he demanded that the “dragons” would be sent to war with Dorne together with a vast army of men from all the other realms in Westeros, only to be reminded that the “dragon bloodline” had died out under Aegon III more than two hundred years ago. 

If anything that proved itself with its declaration of independence, Dorne broke apart from Westeros to truly become part of the modern world, which they already had done under the rule of the late Aria Martell, the former ruling Princess of Dorne and mother of its current ruler Doran, since she had secured new jobs for her people and homeland as a popular resort by letting them build an airport so tourists could get there in a way more than just the big cruise ships that arrived from Essos. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Today, however, no one was thinking of what likely happened in Westeros as they suffered the result of no longer having luxury goods from Dorne available in the same way as three years ago, or how queen Lyanna Stark once again proved how inappropriate she actually was for the role of being a queen consort by showing how no one had taught her the social manners of the south or neglected her education in how to be the wife of a southern lord. Today the whole world was focused on the kingdom of Rohan, for a very good reason: 

Théodred, the only son of King Théoden and queen Elfhild, was getting married. They had kept the identity of his bride a secret, but the invited guests had learned her name in the wedding invitations with a request to keep her name a secret from the media until the wedding ceremony was over. Of course, the people of Rohan knew who their crown princess would be, yet they obeyed the royal request to not tell of her. 

  
  


Elia looked at herself in the mirror, feeling pleased in a manner that she had not been at her first wedding. When marrying Rhaegar, she had to dress in white to symbol her virginity, in a conservative dress style that all royal brides had worn since Alysanne, a daughter from a noble family in Lys, had wed king Jaehaerys I Targaryen. This time, she could wear the traditional wedding sari of Dorne with its belonging bridal jewelry, in red, orange and gold which was meant to symbol the colours of House Martell. 

“Mama!” 

Rhaenys and Aegon came running into the room, dressed in the traditional clothes of Dorne but in green and white to symbol that they would enter the royal family of Rohan though this wedding between their mother and soon-to-be stepfather, eager to see her before they had to leave for the temple where the wedding ceremony would be held, with Balerion dashing past the children. 

“Careful there, sweet ones,” Ashara warned gently as she quickly finished her own hair with a last hairpin, then catching the black cat in her hands before he left black cat hairs on the wedding sari. 

“Guess what! Grandmother Rhaella and Viserys is here!” 

Elia had kept in contact with Rhaella since the divorce, showing that she still had a warm relationship with her former mother-in-law, and Rhaella was raising Viserys as a widowed mother on Dragonstone with the help of trusted household staff, away from the royal court in King's Landing, allowing her younger son to have a far more modern upbringing than what her firstborn had gotten. She had also fixed that if something happened to her, Viserys would be brought up at Storm's End, the seat of House Baratheon, in the hope of that Rhaegar would not mess up the life of his younger brother as he already had done with his first three years of kingship. Rumour said that Rhaegar and his mother was no longer on speaking terms after that decision resulting in a huge argument between them, and Rhaella openly calling her firstborn a foolish daydreamer who would make House Targaryen flat out lose their Kingship if he did not realize that all forms of actions made by a king or other royal family member had long lasting _ consequences.  _

“And they have a really big man as bodyguard with them, too!” Aegon added in, pointing towards the window where Elia could see Rhaella and Viserys escorted by no one else than Robert Baratheon. Well, that did not surprise the Martell princess much, Rhaella had worked hard behind Rhaegar's back to try and lessen the insult the current Lord Baratheon had suffered by his betrothed choosing to be with the future King instead, even offering Viserys as a future husband to Robert's natural daughter Mya Stone who he had brought home from the Valley of Arryn to raise at his own home instead, if they could find a way to make her legitimate so she no longer would be a bastard, though Rhaella had admitted in her secret letters to Elia that unless Viserys and Mya eloped aboard if they really fell in love at a older age, there would be a scandal akin to that of prince Duncan Targaryen and Jenny of Oldstone in Westeros if Viserys married Mya without her becoming the legal child of Robert. 

“Elia? Are you ready?” 

Queen Elfhild had arrived to pick up her new grandchildren, carefully driving her wheelchair to not bump into something. The queen consort of Rohan had become almost paralyzed from the waist downwards in a riding accident not long after her son's birth, but she refused to let said disability ruin her life when it became clear that she would not be cured. Instead, Elfhild had started riding easy-manageable horses that were trained for disabled riders, transforming herself into a dressage rider that nowadays only needed a specially made saddle to ride without falling off her horse. 

“Grandma Elfhild!” 

Ever since it came clear that Théodred and Elia was in love, Rhaenys and Aegon had been encouraged to address their step grandparents as if they were biological relatives. It had helped that all three had moved to Rohan one year ago, when the engagement had happened, allowing the siblings time to get familiar with the palace of Meduseld where they would live. 

“Rhaenys? Aegon? Will you help me get both your grandmothers to their right places for the ceremony while I greets the other guests?” king Théoden offered, which they happy agreed to. Hearing Rhaenys ask where their maternal relatives would be seated, Théodred smiling as he allowed himself a quick look at his bride. 

“See you in half a hour, honey. In a hour, we will be husband and wife for real.” 

Elia responded with a joyful smile as well, enjoying the sight of him in the traditional clothes a male royal member of Rohan would wear at royal ceremonies or weddings. A part of her longed already to undress him for the wedding night later. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

As the wedding guests started to get seated, Robert took the chance to check the newest message from Stannis on his cell phone. 

“Lady Rhaella. Lysa have given birth to a daughter, Shireen, this morning.” 

The Dowager Queen of Westeros smiled at seeing the photo of the newborn infant girl Stannis had sent along with the message to his older brother. 

“It is pleasant to see that  **_one_ ** of Hoster Tully's two daughters have a happy marriage, even if everyone wonders how she can stand Stannis due to his serious nature.” 

From what Rhaella knew, the arranged marriage between Brandon Stark and Catelyn Tully was not as harmonious as that of Lysa Tully and Stannis Baratheon. which Robert had requested for his brother after openly saying that he would not let any future wife of his having to deal with being called a  _ replacement  _ of Lyanna Stark in marriage, and Hoster Tully had found no reason to refuse the match since Stannis was the heir to Robert now when the older Baratheon brother refused marriage altogether. The future Lord of Winterfell was something of a lady-killer, not satisfied with having a southern wife brought up in a different realm and faith than his own, even said to have fathered two bastards since the wedding which was fostered with some families among the bannermen to House Stark. 

“Aye. Lysa is undoubtedly the Lady of Storm's End, and proving herself more than able of it. As their firstborn, Shireen will be the heiress, since we introduced absolute primogeniture with the changing of laws around the time of their wedding.”

Robert and Stannis might not get along well because of crashing personalities, but they had been in agreement that a male infant or young boy becoming Lord of Storm's End was not a legacy they wanted to leave behind at the time of death. Better to let the eldest child inherit Storm's End and the stormlands, no matter which gender, to ensure that a regent would not be needed for many years until that the heir was of age. 

  
  


A tv crew was allowed inside to film the wedding ceremony, together with a small number of journalists that would send the photos to their newspapers in other countries, but otherwise all social media were not allowed until that Elia and Théodred left the temple o meet the people outside. 

“The Valar bless princess Elia Eorl neé Martell, wife to prince Théodred of Rohan!” 

The final part of the wedding ceremony were of Théoden placing a crown on her head, in a symbolic manner of that she was the next queen consort as the wife to his son, and then, unique to this ceremony, the King of Rohan signed a official document that made Rhaenys and Aegon a part of the nobility here in Rohan since they became civilians of Rohan by the wedding. Since the divorce from Rhaegar, Rhaenys and Aegon had been carrying the Martell name just like their mother, and with Théodred adopting them as his own, they would not be legal heirs to the throne of Rohan but each one gaining a noble title was good enough for House Martell. 

“ **_Long live the Prince of Rohan! Long live the Princess of Rohan!_ ** ” 

Elia could feel the taste of trumpf as she looked fondly on Théodred to the sound of the cheers of the people as they came out of the temple, to reveal her face to those who did not know her identity before the wedding, in order to prevent that Rhaegar maybe got the idea to do something fishy when he learned that his ex-wife remarried and that it meant that he was unable to get back his children by Elia if he found his children by Lyanna to be inadequate heirs. 

“Thank you for saving my life by the blood fusion all those years ago.” 

She had lost the chance to become queen consort of Westeros as the wife of Rhaegar, and all the changes she and Rhaella had talked about introducing in order to modernize the Seven Kingdoms, but becoming the queen consort of a far more modern kingdom, despite that it was on the other side of the known world, were not a bad consolation. And she knew in her heart that this second marriage, with a husband she had gotten to know and fall in love with the normal way, promised to be far better than her first marriage. 

“I would do it all again, my sun princess, for the giving of blood can save so many lives.” 

To the joy of everyone present, they shared a passionate kiss right there on the wide stone steps of the temple as their horses was brought forth, for the ride back to Meduseld and the wedding dinner followed by a romantic dance late by night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this AU I imagine that the dragons Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes actually was a trio of humans with lineage from Valyria like the Targaryens. They joined up with Aegon I to help him conquer Westeros in exchange of marrying both Visenya and Rhaenys, who are not his sisters in this AU but instead hailed from the same family as the dragon trio. However, the “dragon lineage” was tainted by incest and inbreeding like the canon Targaryens and the last woman of this line, called the “last dragon” because her personal name is not recorded, died during the reign of Aegon III as a young teenager because of multiple congenital malformations
> 
> None of the Targaryen royal couples in this AU are related closer than first cousins at most, because the Faith holds the same amount of power like the Church in the RL Middle Ages which makes any sort of incest forbidden. Instead, each royal bride have been a descendant of a earlier Targaryen princess that was married to a different house. Meaning that here, Rhaella is a descendant of Elaena Targaryen though her marriage to Ronnel Penrose and Elia is a descendant of the Daenerys who married Maron Martell as in canon. 
> 
> Meanwhile, Aerys was the only child of Jaehaerys II Targaryen and Celia Tully since Aegon V managed to make them marry, though it proved to not be blessed in more children because they felt that one child was enough as Aerys was a male heir, and both of them died of different illnesses before the age of forty. Shaera was wed to Luthor Tyrell but she was so unhappy with her arranged match that she committed suicide before the first wedding anniversary, leading to Luthor marrying Olenna later. Duncan still chose Jenny of Oldstone over his arranged match, but Rhaelle and Ormund had the best marriage of Aegon V's children thanks to that they was matched surprising well in personality


	3. What is lost, will never return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Westeros, things are not looking well for its current King and Queen

King's Landing, Red Keep; 

Fitting the state of mourning, it was raining from a irongrey sky as King Rhaegar and Queen Lyanna, both dressed in black, placed a respective torch at the little pyre where the lifeless body of their second son laid. The little prince Aenar had lived for three months beyond his birth, only to be found dead in his cradle in the morning three days ago. The wet nurse and nurse maids had all been fired, both the grivering Rhaegar and Lyanna blaming them for neglecting their second born prince when neither parent was not in the same room.

But punishing the servants did nothing to give back their son. For the second time in three years, there was a funeral of a royal family member. Picking up Jaehaerys, normally called Jon by her unless it was a formal situation where he would be shown at court, in her arms, Lyanna could not hide her tears as the flames took the little body. 

“ _He should have lived, if I had been allowed to give him a Stark name…!_ ” 

Why was Rhaegar so blind to her wishes that a few of their children should have names found in the Stark family tree instead of only the Targaryen names, like how Aenar was named after the first Lord of Dragonstone?! Surely it could not be so strange with their second son being named Cregan after the long-lived Lord of Winterfell, since their oldest were named after Rhaegar's own paternal grandfather?

  
  


When Lyanna and Jon returned to the Red Keep after the funeral, she did not miss the whispers of the courtiers as she went past them: 

“ _Same situation as with Queen Dowager Rhaella back when the King grew up…only one child away from the royal family risking extinction in the male line…_ ” 

“ _Are House Targaryen cursed since the days of Aegon V, when he was succeeded by his second son after that his first son gave up his crown for a commoner?_ ” 

“ _It is the ice in her veins from the north, it suffocates the Targaryen fire in the children...her womb must be freezing cold…_ ” 

Did Cersei Lannister and the other idiotic southern noble ladies really think her deaf as well?! Lyanna felt her wolf blood boil inside her, if it was any ice inside her body it would have melted a long time ago, for she had not been visiting the North or her birth home since the royal progress the new King and Queen had done after their coronation! Were not Jon born on Dragonstone, to prove that he truly was the new crown prince since Rhaegar had never reinstalled the son of Elia Martell as his heir? 

“Your Highness, no! The King will be angry if you causes a scene again!” Arthur Dayne whispered in her ear, placing a hand on her shoulder so he could push her away towards the nursery where now Jon once again would be the only child living there. Bowing her head down so it would look like she was crying in grief over her lost child again for the unnumbered time, Lyanna gritted her teeth in anger. Rhaegar would insist on coming to her bed again, to knock her up as soon as possible despite that Aenar was buried today. Jon could not remain the sole child, not if they wanted their descendants to keep the Iron Throne. A spare born from her body was needed, for Rhaegar did not trust the way his brother Viserys was being raised by their widowed mother Rhaella on Dragonstone. 

“ _Even Princess Elia managed to have two living children, and nothing suggests that her son have died yet…_ ” 

Not the comparison to his first wife again! No matter what Lyanna did or say in her everyday duties as queen, nothing seemed to make her win over that frail Dornish woman Rhaegar once had been married to! **_Elia Martell. Rhaenys Targaryen. Aegon Targaryen._ **The three names that haunted her marriage, like a set of ghosts that prevented any real happiness. 

“I should have travelled straight to Dorne and left for Essos on a ship from there…!” 

She and Rhaegar had met on the train station at Harrendal by pure chance and he had first offered himself alongside the two Kingsguard members Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent to be her escort to Dorne since he had mentioned some rumour about bandits that attacked sole travellers in the red mountains. It had been so nice, those days on the train journey as he paid courtship to her and praised her courage not to let herself be trapped in marriage to someone like Robert who would only dishonor their marriage by fathering new bastards.

But her plans of escaping the marriage to Robert and keep her freedom had all been ruined thanks to someone having seen her in the same train wagon as Rhaegar on one of the stations the train had made a temporary stop at and sent a telegram to the royal court. When the news of Aerys dying from a heart attack and Elia choosing to divorce Rhaegar rather than “ _quietly accepting the shame of her husband taking a_ _mistress_ ” as Rhaella had sharply told them later at their arrival to the capital, it was too late. The scandal of being a unmarried young woman and seen in the company of Rhaegar without a chaperone to the point of Robert refusing to marry her due to all the suspicion about that she already had shared a bed with the crown prince during the train journey and thus might be pregnant with Rhaegar's child that would not be the legal Baratheon heir if she now was quickly married to Robert, had been Lyanna's first taste of how different the south would treat her. 

Instead of being viewed with admiration, the smallfolk hated her for replacing Elia as the future queen and mother of the royal children. Instead of being allowed to train with sword, do what she wanted such as rising out for hours, she was forced to learn all the traditional feminine skills she had avoided in her intended lessons as the future lady Baratheon and spending time with other women who viewed her as having no manners and being ignorant of what a royal wife should know. Her mother-in-law Rhaella showed clearly to anyone who could see that she didn't like her new daughter-in-law at all, because they had nothing in common when it came to personality or interests. 

But the worst was all the gossip about Elia Martell and her two children, said so Lyanna had no choice but to hear it follow her like a shadow. People said that her dear Jon was not Rhaegar's son because he took after the Starks so much that next to nothing of the Targaryens could be seen in him, that Rhaegar had only married her because Elia had taken their children with her and left him without a heir of his own. And now, with her second child dead, Lyanna knew that she would have to give birth again, being the royal brood mare Elia should have been instead if things had been different three years ago. A role like any other married woman would have, the one she had tried to avoid by running away…

“What went wrong that day when I met Rhaegar on the train!?” 

All her dreams for the future now gone, and herself trapped in a marriage she did not want and duties that left her with no freedom of all. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Rhaegar was not in a good mood either, where he played on his harp in his private chamber to be alone until the funeral dinner this evening. The loss of his second son with Lyanna this young was a major blow to his hope of siring many children and seeing them grow up to make the royal family be strong in numbers again. Viserys was still several years too young for marriage, so his brother could not help out in this, and his mother Rhaella was too old for a new pregnancy since she now were 42 years old. Worse, Lyanna would have had a child between the boys, but she had lost that daughter in a late miscarriage when falling off her horse while escaping from a assassin who appeared in the middle of a hunt where both had been present. Since Lyanna had not been attacked again from another person while Arthur had killed the assassin, it became clear that her unborn child had been the original target and the whole goal was to try avoiding that she had any more children after Jaehaerys. 

“Nothing seems to go right when it comes to making the royal family gain more members by birth…” 

Looking back on what had happened since the very sudden death of his father three years ago and with Elia using a divorce to escape with Rhaenys and Aegon to Dorne so he suddenly had no other choice but to marry Lyanna as his new wife and start anew on having children, it could seem like Rhaegar had been cursed with back luck for his reign: 

It had been horrible weather for over a week before and during the coronation, the planned tourney could not be held in the muddy fields and it was quickly followed by the intended show of generosity became a tragedy due when far too many people had shown up at the free food serving and over 600 people dying when they were trampled to death because they fell to the ground in the packed crowd, resulting in the common people viewing it as a bad omen for the new reign. And with Dorne having declared themselves independent, a lot of luxury goods suddenly became far more expensive as they now had to be imported from Essos instead. 

Not only that, he had gotten a first hand view of how popular Elia had been as his wife, for despite her poor health she had managed to give him two healthy children and used her status to become a major patron of the orphanages in the capital and also laid the foundation for building a new nursing home for the poor who were old and sick with no relatives to care for them, something which had been brought to a halt with the divorce and never been restarted. Now Elia was viewed as the “queen that should have been”, unfairly replaced by a girl from the north as he had “ _not kept his codpiece locked_ ” and the major blame for the new royal marriage had been laid on Lyanna for “seducing him with northern magic” as far as her enemies saw it. 

“On top of Jaehaerys being born the same day as a massive hailstorm ruined the harvest in both the Reach and Westerlands so it was that major trouble with food that winter, there is the declining numbers of children born among the farmers who affect the number of paid taxes…” 

No one could really explain why so many newborn children and those in the toddler age among the smallfolk had kept dying since the reign of Aegon V. The maesters suggested that it was a mix of bad harvests, which led to starvation because of famine, accidents and childhood diseases that killed the future peasant families. But there had been no major outbreak of either smallpox, tuberculosis or cholera that could explain a possible epidemic. 

“Your majesty.” 

It was Vaerys who had arrived, looking out of breath as if he had been running up and down several stairs and corridors in a desperate attempt to find his king to tell something important. 

“It better not be Lyanna saying or doing something she should not to any of the court members again…”

Rhaegar knew that his wife came off as uncouth in the royal court despite three years of attempting to tame her wild behavior with teachers once serving his own mother, and especially Cersei Lannister had a very bad habit of crashing with Lyanna each time they saw each other, not helped by that the daughter of Tywin Lannister viewed Lyanna as a ill-bred, uncivilized she-wolf from the North. 

“Not your wife, sire, but this is some grave news about Dorne that my little birds managed to pick up among the newspapers in the Stormlands at a delivery of fine perfumes from Lys…” 

Newspapers? What in the name of the Seven could be so important that he had to read some foreign newspapers instead of Vaerys telling him what happened? Then, as he turned over to the front page of the first one he was handed, a colored photo of a woman he once had known faced Rhaegar with the head line in thick letters: 

**_ELIA MARTELL NOW MARRIED TO THE PRINCE OF ROHAN_ **

At first, he only stared at the headline in stunned silence. Then it dawned on him what it meant, and in growing horror Rhaegar hurried to look through all the newspaper, where all the details of his ex-wife and her new husband from the kingdom across the world could be read. But the worst was a photo of a parchment written in Rohirric, translated into High Valyrian, who explained that Rhaenys and Aegon Martell now were adopted into the royal family of Rohan and while not able of inheriting the throne since the Prince of Rohan was their stepfather instead of their biological father, would be part of the nobility in their new homeland. 

“She...she dares to…” 

As his face became twisted in anger at reading about the adoption, no one could deny that Rhaegar was the son of Aerys. 

“ **_HOW DARE SHE GIVE MY CHILDREN TO BE RAISED BY THAT BARBARIAN!?! MY DAUGHTER!! MY OLDEST SON!!_ **”

Anyone who passed outside the chamber, would have heard the sound of furniture overturned in his rage as Rhaegar cursed Elia and the Martells for causing his reign to become a joke by making Dorne a independency and the divorce that made him chained for life to a unwanted new wife because the High Septon refused to annul the marriage to Lyanna or making it possible for him to take a third wife if she died. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aenar died from sudden infant death syndrome, as one risk factor of this is the baby being placed on the side or stomach for sleep. It is the most common cause of death between one month and one year of age. About 90% of cases happen before six months of age, with it being most frequent between two months and four months of age. It is more common in boys than girls. 
> 
> About the social scandal causing Rhaegar and Lyanna to marry in order to save face instead of a short lived affair, think about it like this: Lyanna vanished the day after that Brandon married Catelyn at Riverrun, fearing that they would travel next to Storm's End for her own wedding to Robert, and since she travelled without anyone who could act as a witness to that nothing really had happened between her and Rhaegar on the train journey outside some polite conversations and sharing the meals at the table, everyone thought that she was ruined from losing her maidenhead without being his legal wife because she had spent several days in his company and Robert refused to have a possible Targaryen bastard as his “legal” firstborn that would steal the Baratheon name and inheritage from any younger children that would truly be his biological offspring. 
> 
> The mention of Rhaegar not being able of keeping his codpiece locked is inspired from a mention in a book I have about Charles II of England and his mistresses, especially from the actress Nell Gwyn about how she recommended him how to spare money: “Send Louise de Kérouaille back to France, put me on stage again and lock your own codpiece.” 
> 
> Yep, Rhaegar is proving himself emotionally stunted and acting like a selfish child rather than a grown man because he was a only child for 17 years before Viserys was born and he have always been surrounded by people who never denied him anything or insisted that he is so smart, handsome and brilliant in everything he does, so he have some major trouble understanding why his reign as King is not the golden age everyone said that it would be. 
> 
> As mentioned in chapter 2, I have Rhaella being 16 at giving birth to Rhaegar in this story and with the timeline currently being equivalent to year 285 A.C in canon, Rhaegar is 26 years old and with Lyanna being aged up one year for this story so she would be a legal adult by Westeros laws so Rhaegar would not replace Elia with a minor, she is 19 years old


	4. Changes in life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days after the wedding in Rohan are a lot more enjoyable than in Westeros

In Rohan, some of the festive mood from the royal wedding still remained among the people in the following days. In a symbolic manner and respect for their history, all royal weddings were held in Old Edoras, the capital of old days, while New Edoras was the current capital where the royal family now lived. The day after the wedding, the whole gathered royal family and some of their guests had headed towards a private ranch owned by the House of Eorl as a place to relax and take time off from the duties from the kingdom. 

“Come on!” 

Elia and both her mothers-in-law, Elfhild and Rhaella, had ridden out on the surrounding plains for a quick ride together. Here it was impossible to miss that despite her paralysis below the waist Elfhild, like all Rohirrim, were still able of riding if she used a specially-crafted saddle which prevented her from falling off the horse. By riding in a side-saddle, Elfhild used leather straps to fasten her paralyzed legs and then a belt fastened in the pommel and cantle of the saddle so she did not slip off. 

As for the new Princess of Rohan, she had grown up with horse-riding as a part of her upbringing as well. Dorne were famous for its sand steeds after all, so all members of House Martell had to least learn the basics in horse riding, even if they might not end up having it as one of their interests in life. Some old traditions from the past were really hard to change even now in modern times. 

“Take it a little slow, please!” 

In contrast, Rhaella had rarely been allowed to ride during her life, and were only used to a side-saddle, so it was only understandable that she had some trouble keeping up with Elfhild and Elia despite having gotten to borrow a gentle-tempered older gelding. 

“Are you alright, lady Rhaella? My apologies, I am so used to riding like this with my fellow ladies of Rohan that I am unused to the presence of someone who does not have the same experience of horse riding. ” 

Rhaella could not fault the Queen of Rohan for a such simple mistake, this could very well happened between anyone of her subjects and a foreigner from Essos. Besides, she had not exactly gotten much time to get out from the Red Keep since she had become confined to Maegor's Holdfast roughly around 270 AC, all because the stillbirth in that year had made Aerys accuse her of being unfaithful and that all the pregnancies after Rhaegar actually was the result of secret love affairs. 

Personally, Rhaella hated to be confined like that for over a decade with no way of influence her son in how he should treat women as an adult, how the ladies at court had needed to invent a lot of creative ways to communicate with her so she would not go literally mad from the unwanted loneliness. Like having the castle maids smuggle in letters from her few friends among her former ladies-in-waiting and new books for her to read, putting up plays and musical performances in the garden so she could hear from the window, maybe even catch a glimpse of the actors if the angle was the right one. It had saved her sanity many times during the six years before Viserys was born and after that, she spent her days by caring for her second son with a growing hope of regaining her freedom when Viserys did not die in the cradle. 

  
  


The trio of royal women rode a bit further, allowing Rhaella her space so she would not feel pressed about anything. 

“So...what updates can you tell about the royal court of Westeros? For some of your past maids are still working there, right?”

Elia wanted some form of information that she could use against Rhaegar and Lyanna. She had put most of her old feelings about them behind thanks to finding a new love, but a part of her would never forgive her ex-husband for trying to make the Stark daughter a mistress. So for Elia, Rhaegar having to marry Lyanna in order to start over from the very beginning on having children were just him receiving his just deserts. 

“The she-wolf forgot the shame of her actions at the coronation and once again dumped a goblet of wine on Cersei Lannister the very day before Viserys and I left Dragonstone in order to join your family in Dorne a week ago, to be guests at the wedding. And this time it happened after that miss Lannister made a fair point about that Lyanna really should not be complaining about all three of her brothers being married now instead of being in the south with her.” 

According to what Rhaella had managed to find out, Benjen Stark had joined the middle brother Eddard in being married off to northern brides just a few months ago. This meant that none of the three Stark brothers could spend time with their sister in the royal court anymore, for now their father Rickard wanted all his sons home in the North without “getting any funny ideas” that could shame the Stark family furthermore after what Lyanna had done three years ago. 

“Wine strains on a dress that have taken months to create and is made in a fabric and with lot of delicate details that will be hard to wash? Are she seriously refusing to take responsibility for her own actions at the age of nineteen years when she is a young woman and not a toddler, after growing used to escape punishment for her actions in childhood or, honestly emotionally immature?” Elfhild wondered aloud from her horse, muttering under her breath that Rickard Stark really should have remarried after the death of Lyarra Stark so Lyanna could be overwatched by a stepmother, or at least sent her to be fostered by his still living sister-in-law Branda who had married a Stormland husband. No doubt that the lack of a female authority figure or female role model in her life as she grew up sheltered from the real world in Winterfell, had affected Lyanna in how she came to view other members of her own gender. 

“Afraid that I can not read the mind of my second daughter-in-law,” Rhaella responded in a voice that did not hide how disappointed she truly was over having such a daughter-in-law, who refused to mature despite that three years had gone. 

Sensing the bad mood, Elia took the led into a gallop which the two older women joined. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Back at the ranch, nine-year-old Viserys did his best to watch over Rhaenys and Aegon together with sixteen-year-old Éomer and twelve-year-old Éowyn, the two children of King Théoden's youngest sister Théodwyn. 

“How quick can a five-year-old and three-year-old duo of siblings be in running?!” 

The two older siblings did not fault him for a such question as they chased after the two toddlers, since Viserys were more or less a only child without any younger siblings due to his mother refusing to undergo a eleventh pregnancy after his birth with the help of modern contraceptive pills she had gotten smuggled to her in secret from Dorne and being born seventeen years after Rhaegar. 

“They are a age where they want to help and explore...” 

“Baby bunnies!” Aegon suddenly called, after checking in the lettuce corner and finding a few unintended little Angora “guests” that had escaped from the rabbit cages a bit further away from the vegetable garden. Hearing that there was a escape, the older royal cousins joined in to find all the baby rabbits so the lettuce was not eaten up.

  
  


Some of the adults were watching the younger family members from the outdoor barbecue place, where they prepared everything needed for lunch. 

“It is good that young Viserys can join his mother on international trips like this, it gives him an opportunity to see how different countries and cultures are, in relation to Westeros. A sheltered upbringing can probe harmful in the long run, as shown with the current Targaryen king and his queen consort,” sultan Mehmed of Great Moraq spoke as he saw the Targaryen prince help Rhaenys catch one of the baby rabbits that attempted to escape from them. At the other end of the table where they just had finished the chess game, Théodred nodded in agreement. 

“I do not care if it is fate, I am glad that I can offer Elia the love, family life and happy marriage she never had with her first husband.” 

Elia did not like to talk about Rhaegar or her first marriage, which the Prince of Rohan respected. It was not a pleasant memory, how she had been treated like a brood mare by the Targaryen heir and then needing a hasty divorce to save herself from the public shame of seeing her husband with a mistress not long after she gave birth to a son. 

“My astrologers believe that King Rhaegar will not reign past ten years as King. They are not fully sure, but they say that there is bad omens for his reign. Westeros have been hit badly by the climate changes because the Faith refuses to claim it as anything else than that the Seven is not pleased over that Rhaegar's second marriage was caused by a such scandal, and with Saruman White running his secret adoption organization of spreading whispers among the peasant families about the endless possibilities that their children can have in the modern world, if they were adopted abroad…” 

Théodred knew what Mehmed spoke about. The famous businessman Saruman White had, in his youth, been so close to help the aging Aegon V modernize Westeros, only to find himself kicked out by the more traditional-minded Jaehaerys II on the very weak grounds of “it is not needed to make such changes in Westeros”. Resenting how Jaehaerys had dismissed him so, with only Rhaelle and Steffon Baratheon offering him a chance to help them modernize the Stormlands, and the loss of creating new works for the common people in Westeros, Saruman had made it his goal in life in ruining the social power of the Targaryen Kings. And since a lot of their power, alongside that of the nobles, came from the smallfolk, Saruman had his own agents dress up as wandering septons and spread whispers of how different the rest of the world was from Westeros, how people could raise above their social status at birth and get a better life for their own children. 

That was why the smallfolk population of Westeros had sunk dramatically since the death of Aegon V. The poor families giving up their newborn and toddler children, sometimes even older children, to be smuggled out from Westeros for adoption to families in Essos, Great Moraq, Rohan, Gondor and the rest of the world. And that affected the number of taxes Aerys II and Rhaegar I could collert every year, since only the adults and old members of the smallfolk were left behind to keep work the land as their forefathers had done. 

“Three of those children are adopted by two of my mother's bodyguards for travels aboard. A set of Westerlands siblings, a brother and sister, and a sole girl from the same area. They thought it better if the three children could have a family of mixed siblings.”

“ **_DAAAAAAAAD!!_ ** ” Rhaenys suddenly howled from somewhere, “Aegon sat down in the mud so his pants, socks and shoes are all wet!” 

Smiling over that she kept a such good eye on her not very talkative brother, Théodred excused himself to Mehmed so he could gather his stepson and help Aegon change into dry clothes before Elia returned.

  
  


Not long after, did the three women return from their horse riding. 

“Did you have a pleasant hour together?” Théoden smiled at Elfhild, helping her unfasten the leather straps so he could lift her out of the sidesaddle and back into her wheelchair while one of his sisters took care of Elfhild's horse. 

“Very pleasant. Sometimes a talk between women only is needed.” 

Elia and Rhaella was also pleased with the riding tour, since it had allowed them to spend time together again, now looking forwards for a nice lunch in good company. 

During the lunch, Viserys took the chance to ask more about the history and culture of Rohan. Rhaella had planned for them and Robert Baratheon to visit the museums in Old Edoras the following day, so she found it good that her son showed a true interest in what they would be doing there. 

“It is no fun with the history of Westeros as I have already learned nearly everything about the past Targaryen kings. And there is not much to find out about the various parts of Westeros past the Conquest either. The history before Aegon the Conqueror is not well documented either outside the lists of kings in the kingdoms.” 

Ihsan, who had history and collection of folklore as his personal interests, offered to tell Viserys more of what was known of Dornish history after the meal, because the nine-year-old were honest about wanting to know more about things that had not been part of the education Rhaegar once had gotten. Between checking on the kids so they did not eat too fast or took more than what they would manage to eat up, Elia and Théodred smiled at each other in clear affection that everyone around the table could see. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the reader Cue Emotion for the headcanon about Old Edoras being the capital of olden days and New Edoras being the current capital where the royal family lives. Gave me the idea of that Old Edoras is basically a huge historical site with a lot of symbolism for modern-day Rohan
> 
> Pommel is the front area of a horse saddle, and cantle forms the back
> 
> It is mentioned on the ASOIAF wiki that Rhaella was indeed confined to Maegor's Holdfast roughly around 270 AC, as her sixth pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth with a unnamed child of unknown gender. Since she had two miscarriages after Rhaegar, then a stillborn daughter and then a son not living past six months after birth, Aerys accused her of being unfaithful and likely confined her to ensure that she would not have any more, actually very unlikely, affairs behind his back. Since Aerys died in 282 AC here in-story when Aegon was six months old, Rhaella spent about 12 years in Maegor's Holdfast 
> 
> Since Rhaenys is only 15 months older than Aegon and born in 280 AC, that makes her four years younger than Viserys, who would be five when his nephew is born, or six depending on which birth month they have
> 
> Angora rabbit, one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, is bred for the long fibers of its coat, known as Angora wool, that are gathered by shearing, combing, or plucking. Because rabbits do not possess the same allergy-causing qualities as many other animals, their wool is an important alternative.


	5. A southern and northern marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet the Tully sisters and see how different their marriages have turned out

Storm's End in the Stormlands, Westeros: 

Stannis were not surprised to see Lysa reading one of the foreign newspapers, where she currently laid in their big double bed with Shireen sleeping in a bassinet next to her side of the bed so she would not need to leave for the nursery if the baby wanted to nurse. His wife liked to know what happened in the world outside Westeros, seeing it as a way to teach herself about places and people she would love to see if they ever travelled aboard one day. 

“You seem to enjoy the news of the royal wedding in the kingdom of Rohan,” he commented, Shireen opening and closing one of her tiny fists at the sound of his voice but not waking up. 

“Of course I do, it is wonderful to see princess Elia get a chance of happiness instead of remaining trapped in marriage with the fool we have to call king.” 

Despite that she was only eighteen years old and already a mother, Lysa had matured in several ways since the wedding two years ago where she became Stannis' wife and the Lady of Storm's End in all but name because Robert refused to marry. They had consummated the wedding night in order to not give her father a reason to annul the marriage later if it seemed like Lysa was taking very long time to get pregnant, but afterwards they had used birth control for the first year of the marriage because Lysa had admitted to not feeling ready for motherhood directly after becoming a married wife. Not having to worry about pregnancy at once, had instead allowed Lysa to get acquainted with her new home in peace and quiet, to grow into her role as Lady Baratheon at the pace she needed because of her age at the wedding. 

“Foolish king, indeed. I am glad that he is stuck with Lyanna, for otherwise grandmother Rhaelle would haunt Storm's End as a ghost after her death if the Stark girl had married Robert and then proven herself to be a disaster.” 

Stannis mentally shuddered in horror at the memory of how furiously his grandmother had reacted on the news that Lyanna Stark had ran away to avoid the marriage and shaming not only House Baratheon but also House Stark by her behavior:

“ _ WHAT is so great about becoming the second wife of a bloody Targaryen King who have brought up in a such old-fashioned way?! Does she think that House Baratheon is going to quietly accept yet another ruined betrothal for the second time in three generations?! _ ” 

Given that Rhaelle herself had become a Baratheon bride to Ormund Baratheon in order to make up for the humiliation to House Baratheon her oldest brother Duncan Targaryen had caused by his romance and marriage to the commoner Jenny of Oldstone, her two oldest grandsons knew that Rhaelle did not hold any great love for her Targaryen relatives when they refused to realize that they were actually living in modern times. In fact, if one ignored her Targaryen purple eyes, it had happened many times that some people who saw her for the first time, tended to mistake Rhaelle for a true Baratheon with her black hair curls and well-endowed body shape both upwards and downwards, for she took after her Blackwood maternal family. 

“Everyone feared that her wrath over the scandal would trigger a stroke or affect her already present heart problems, so it is great that she did not fall ill afterwards.”

Lysa had heard from Maester Cressen that it was a heart problem caused by her pregnancy with Steffon that prevented Rhaelle from having more children, because of the high risk of a heart failure for her if she underwent a second pregnancy. But the former Targaryen princess were still alive at her current age of 56 years old, and it was not impossible that she might live long enough to see her great-grandchildren by Shireen if the newborn daughter of Lysa and Stannis continued the family's age-old tradition to get married soon after her sixteenth birthday.

“As if Steffon and Cassana would be happy to see me join them in the afterlife before the age of 60, when modern health care can help us with illnesses that was previously untreated.” 

Like if she had been summoned by a genie from a fairy tale, had Rhaelle arrived in the hallway outside the room without being heard thanks to her soft slippers. In one hand, she held a basket with freshly-baked bread buns straight from the oven. 

“Juliana, Mya and Gendry sends their shared greetings to Stannis and well-wishes for Lysa and Shireen together with some treats for you two.”

Juliana was the name of the lowborn woman who had birthed Mya, and basically became Robert's paramour by being taken along to the Stormlands when the whole scandal about Rhaegar and Lyanna had made Robert refuse marriage. Despite her position and becoming the mother of a son only one year previously, she insisted on working for the food and clothes she got, proving herself to be a very skilled cook in the kitchen of Storm's End. 

“Hm. At least Shireen will have some cousins around as playmates when she is older,” Stannis muttered as he poured up some lemon water to have with a bread bun. He also used the time to go though the daily mail that had arrived this morning, since the desk was just beside the window. Two of the letters came all the way from Riverrun and Winterfell, respectively. 

“Great. Father laments that I have not given you a son despite that I did warn him about it thanks to the ultrasound during the pregnancy and still manages to whine about my duty to “give your lord husband a son to avoid a unhappy marriage”, as he writes. Does he fail to realize  **_which_ ** Baratheon brother I ended up marrying?” Lysa commented in a displeased voice at reading what her father had written, Stannis gritting his teeth in annoyance since he did not like his father-in-law much after that Hoster Tully had sent a lot of letters questioning what happened in the marriage bed, because as the Lord of Riverrun saw Lysa taking birth control as a sign that she did not do her primary duty in marriage. That of becoming pregnant with a heir to her husband. 

“Grandmother, can you add in a letter beside my own to remind Hoster Tully that Lysa was given the birth control to avoid that she became pregnant before she was ready for it?”

“ **_As if a daughter dead in childbirth alongside her first child, something that can be prevented, is more enjoyable than a daughter who lives to adulthood and have a brood of healthy children,_ ** ” Rhaelle agreed with her grandson as she grabbed a pen to write a rather sharply-worded letter to Hoster Tully. Sure, Celia Tully had been the queen consort of Jaehaerys II, and Aerys II the first cousin to Hoster and Brynden Tully as a result of that marriage, but the current Lord Tully needed to be reminded that it had been  _ his _ obsession with good marriages for his children, preferably among the highest noble families in Westeros and with no thoughts of that the spouses might not be well-matched in  _ personality _ as well as lineage, that had became the background to that his favorite daughter Catelyn was the one trapped in a unhappy marriage to Brandon Stark.

The letter from Winterfell, came from Catelyn with congratulations to the successful birth of her first niece. Yet she did also prove herself a daughter of Hoster by annoying Lysa with the tactless reminder of that she needed a son to Stannis. 

“Is there a way to make them understand the meaning of full cognitive succession, that Shireen will remain the heiress to House Baratheon as the oldest child, even if she gets younger brothers!?” 

Given that she had given birth only a week ago, it was perfectly understandable that Lysa would still have some form of mood swings. Stannis, who had been rather uncomfortable during the whole pregnancy, were only grateful for a excuse to let his wife calm down with the help of Rhaelle while he took the turn to put a fresh diaper on Shireen who had now awoken from her nap and fidgeted in the discomfort that her parents had learned to read as needing a new diaper now. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

For Catelyn Stark nee Tully, her marriage to Brandon Stark had been a cruel awakening to the reality to that even if she was the favorite child of Hoster Tully, and used to lead a household from a early age since her mother Minisa had died from that horrible infection caused by her stillbirth, not everyone would view her with the same fondness as her father. 

“I had never imagined that Lysa would end up in a better marriage than myself, for I were used to see her as the sky, timid girl who would always hide from father whatever she had done something wrong...”

Not that Brandon was abusing her with his hands or voice, no, but he made no secret of that he had only married Catelyn because his father Rickard had arranged it, and that his Tully wife were not the type of woman he would have chosen to marry by his free will. They rarely talked outside polite greetings at the table during mealtimes because they had such vastly different upbringings and cultures, struggling to find a common ground. 

But what really hurt Catelyn on a personal level, more than finding out that Lysa had been the lucky one when it came to their respective husbands, was how Brandon had not kept true to their wedding vows and fathering two bastards on various travels around the North as part of his eventual taking over the North from his father. 

“I was naive to think of him as a man of honor and loyalty despite being told that all men has needs and not always have a wife around for it…”

Catelyn had found some small comfort in that Brandon at least had made it so his bastards were fostered by the bannermen instead of having them be raised at Winterfell where her own children would be, but it did not lessen her feelings of  _ not being enough, _ that her son Cregan and daughter Arrana were not viewed as “proper Starks” because of her being from the south. It did not help that Brandon hated how miserable Lyanna found her marriage and unhappiness over being stuck in a even more restricted role as queen consort than being Lady Baratheon. Catelyn felt some pity for her sister-in-law, but at the same time found it tiresome to see Lyanna complain about basically the same old stuff in nearly every single letter she sent north to her family. After three years of marriage and life as a queen consort, surely Lyanna would have  _ matured _ a bit not only in body also  _ in mind,  _ especially now after the loss of two children? 

“She can not act in the same way as she did here at Winterfell, soon there will be a line she crosses for real and we will be unable to protect her…” 

And given just how many people Lyanna had insulted by her actions, behavior or careless words over the years since that hasty wedding ceremony to king Rhaegar, a lot of them would gladly want her removed. And not everyone would be satisfied by that she was locked up in a mother house, sent to the Silent Sisters or back to the North in disgrace. Some of them would rather prefer her gone forever, by dying. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Across Westeros, the news of Elia Martell's second marriage, and Rhaegar's very strong reaction on finding out about it on the same day as he buried his second son with Lyanna Stark, spread like a set of grass fires. 

For whose who disliked how Dorne had taken back their independence, the wedding were a alarm about how the Martells really had no intention of returning to be a part of the Seven Kingdoms. Others feared how Dorne would gain more power in the world by this marriage, and how that would affect Westeros. 

But for those who recalled how Elia had succeeded in having a living daughter and son before the divorce, her new marriage and the adoption of her children into the royal family of Rohan spoke a different meaning: that if Lyanna Stark's oldest son Jaehaerys died as a young child and she was found unable to have a child surviving to adulthood, Rhaegar Targaryen would have no children to succeed him as King of Westeros. And with Viserys Targaryen being so much younger than his brother and raised by Queen Dowager Rhaella Targaryen on Dragonstone away from the royal court, no one could tell how he would be as a possible King after his brother. His eventual marriage would also affect politics once he was of age, since a lot of noble families would try and offer a flowered daughter as a bride to Viserys in the hope of becoming the new in-laws to the royal family. If Viserys married and sired a brood of healthy children while Rhaegar was left with a endless line of stillborn children or offspring dead in childhood… 

Well, not only would Lyanna Stark prove herself a inferior replacement for Elia Martell as a royal wife by not having any living children, there would also be a risk of civil war between Rhaegar and Viserys in the longer term because the oldest son of Rhaella would never accept the idea of his brother being his successor, followed by any sons Viserys would have. The age difference of 17 years between the two brothers could play a huge role in making Viserys seem like a better choice as King, if Rhaegar lived to the age of 50 without any living heirs from Lyanna, since Viserys would be 33 years old at that time. A grown man with children of his own, hopefully, and being the same age as Aegon V when he had became the fifteen Targaryen King to sit on the Iron Throne. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of Rhaelle Baratheon nee Targaryen to stand out among the children of Aegon V by having black hair like her mother Betha and oldest brother Duncan. And that she took pride in becoming a Baratheon because out of all the siblings, she got to enjoy seeing the Stormlands become modernized thanks to Saruman and enjoy a degree of luxury they could only dream of like electrical power to heat up and light up her home, flush toilets with a real bathroom, modern health care and new, foreign dishes thanks to modern cooking! 
> 
> In this story Rhaelle nearly died in the days after giving birth to Steffon due to getting Peripartum cardiomyopathy, a weakness of the heart muscle that by definition begins sometime during the final month of pregnancy through about five months after delivery, without any other known cause. Most commonly, it occurs right after delivery. It is a rare condition that can carry mild or severe symptoms. Because her heart did not completely recover its work capacity, another pregnancy were not recommended due to the risks of additional heart damage for the mother, which could in turn harm the developing fetus.
> 
> I prefer Rhaelle to be born in 229 AC, since that would make her seventeen years old in the year 246 when her son Steffon was born. According to the timeline, Steffon was 32 years old in 278 AC when he and his wife Cassana died in the storm, and with Robert being born in 262 AC, that meant that Steffon and Cassana most likely were sixteen years old when they became parents for the first time. Robert in turn was 17 years when Mya Stone was born, if her birth year is 279 AC, so I would not call it impossible that Mya could be a result of his grief over his parents dying
> 
> Cregan and Arrana Stark are meant to be this AU's version of Robb and Sansa Stark, since I think Brandon would insist on northern names for his children from the Stark family tree, but also that they will have a northern education because Brandon got a deep distaste for the South after Lyanna's royal marriage and being unable to free her from Rhaegar


	6. Social duties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the honeymoon, Théodred and Elia returns to some of their social duties as the future King and Queen

While their honeymoon might have been short, there was several good reasons for it. Rhaenys and Aegon needed their parents present in their lives alongside the social duties the married couple could not escape from, and both the new princess of Rohan and her husband was going to take part in the Horse Olympics next summer as members of the team of riders who would present Rohan. 

“You are doing great, Théodred!” 

From where she just had finished the daily training in dressage on her sand steed mare Asiya, Elia saw in pride how her husband showed off his skills in show jumping, before turning his gelding Silvermoon into a different direction. Grabbing a bow and quiver with arrows from a assistant, the future King of Rohan then showed that he were no beginner in mounted archery either. 

“Dad! Dad!” Aegon cheered from where Ashara held him in her arms for a better look on what his parents were doing. Even Rhaenys were training her riding on a small pony for young children, doing her first ride without a adult leading the pony. 

“Rhaenys have come a long way since she started. Soon it will be time for Aegon as well,” Théodred commented in pride at seeing his stepdaughter having fun. 

“Unless you court them starting riding in the saddle of a stagnant horse, which I recalls from the last day you spent in Dorne because your return home to Rohan was delayed thanks to the direct blood transfusion,” Elia responded with a fond smile at the memory she was referring to: 

  
  


_ She had gotten to leave the hospital four days after being rushed there. As Rhoyne suspected, there were traces of moon tea hidden in her blood when a test had been made.  _

_ “To think that someone would indeed use moon tea in a attempt to turn my health against myself and possibly make a possible death by a massive blood loss seem like a delayed result of the struggles from when I gave birth to Aegon...”  _

_ Elia had been terrified by how close she had came to death, and only found comfort by staying around her children and family members once she could return to the Old palace. A secret investigation had been started, on Doran's orders, but nobody knew if it would give good results or not. _

_ “Mama!” Rhaenys spoke up, getting the attention of her mother by tugging on her skirt, “uncle guest!” _

_ Given her young age, it was pretty normal that she did not speak in full sentences outside two or three words yet. And it happened to be the prince of Rohan that Rhaenys had spotted, since he just had finished test-riding one of the mares that would be sent to Rohan as part of the deal between his homeland and Dorne to do a barter with some of their horses to bring in new blood.  _

_ “Greetings to both you and your mother, little princess. I hope that you are feeling better now, princess Elia?” he asked carefully in Valyrian, though his heavy accent betrayed that it was not his mother language. Personally, something about the way he made great care to make himself understood in the unfamiliar language, came of as charming for Elia. The Martell princess made sure to once again thank him for the blood fusion that had saved her, even confirming that she even felt a lot more energetic now after leaving the hospital, and it seemed like Aegon found this stranger rather interesting to look at. But then again he was mainly used to his mother, sister and Elia's fellow Dornish ladies from the first months of his life spent at Dragonstone, so the Prince of Rohan might remind him of Jamie Lannister, for all of that the firstborn son of Tywin Lannister had only met her son during the final month as Elia had been Rhaegar's wife. _

_ “Me ride! Me ride!”  _

_ Instead of being annoyed by the demand from the young girl as he carefully held up a hand to keep Rhaenys on a safe distance from the hooves while the horse sniffed at her, Théodred simply asked Elia for her permission first before he lifted up Rhaenys in the saddle. Even if the horse did not move, her joyful face was impossible to miss.  _

_ “I am afraid that your son is way too little yet for testing the saddle. He is old enough to be able to sit up with some support, right?” _

_ “Beh!” Aegon babbled from where he was held in her arms, as if he wanted to confirm that question. Both the adults shared a laugh over the infant trying to take part of their conversation. _

~X~X~X~X~X~X

This evening, Elia and Théodred were some of the important guests at a opera held in the operahouse of New Edoras, which was planned to raise money for charity. 

“I finds it very brave for them to choose the name of “ _ Sun princess and the king of peace _ ” for this newly created opera. Then again, Myriah Martell and her marriage to Daeron II is very important in the history of Westeros.” 

The opera had been created to focus on Myriah Martell and her Targaryen husband Daeron II as the main characters, though her mother-in-law Naerys naturally played a equally important role in the first act, as the opera opened with the wedding of the Martell princess and Targaryen prince when they both had been sixteen years old. In Dorne there was careful preserved records and even drawings of Myriah throughout her life, so the costume designers had been able to take inspiration from the real clothes the royal couple had worn. 

“ _ Curse on him, a curse on the soul of the man who sired me and Daemon! Curse him for legitimizing my half-brother on his deathbed! Blackfyre he named the son of Daena the Defiant, and black shall indeed be the legacy for his own children! A lifetime spent at the Wall in the frozen North for the still living five remaining sons, and their sisters shall join their mother in exile to Tyroshi. _ ” 

Elia knew that after the First Blackfyre rebellion ended in the death of Daemon Blackfyre and his two twin sons on the Redgrass field, Daeron II had not wanted to take any risks and such sent the five remaining sons of Daemon to the Wall to become part of the Night's Watch, but their shared half-brother Aegor Rivers had been caught more or less literally in the act of stealing away Daemon the younger, the third son of his father, and the fifth son, Aenys Blackfyre away to Essos in the hope of using them as claimants against Daeron II and his four sons by Myriah. Sadly for him, Rohanne of Tyroshi had managed to delay the kidnapping of her children by hiding herself with all her still living children deep in the keep and locking all the doors. 

“ _ A son out of wedlock can not replace a legal firstborn, not when the legal heir is seventeen years older and already having sons of his own! No, Daeron, my good husband and king, I refuse to let Daemon steal what belongs to our sons! I am the first Martell to be the queen consort of the Seven Kingdoms, and shall a fellow Martell princess marry House Targaryen as well, she shall not have to fear that her background of being from Dorne is a legal excuse to prevent her future children from ruling! _ ” 

“Did Aegor really think that lady Rohanne would want to see her sons risk their lives for the same madness that had just gotten their father and two oldest brothers killed? No same woman would wish to hear the news of her sons dying for something that was out of their reach anyway, as Daemon was not the legal son of Aegon IV and queen Naerys. What happened afterwards? I saw in a history book from Dorne that all the five younger Blackfyre sons spent their whole lives at the Wall, but what about Aegor Rivers?” 

Théodred knew that Daena Targaryen had been wed to a Lord of House Tarth at the age of fifteen, but that after eight years and three children, her husband had suddenly died and so, when Daena give birth to her most famous son in 170 After the Conquest, as it was called in Westeros, everyone knew that the boy was not a legal child with any blood ties to House Tarth at all. 

“He found out the hard way that Lord Brynden Rivers had guessed his intentions, and placed his best archers to blend in among the guards at the keep after that Rohanne found her family under house arrest to act as bait for him.”

Personally, Elia was graceful for that Myriah and Daeron had taken a such decision about the remaining Blackfyre children. Sure, it was cruel for the young boys to find themselves at the Wall and trapped there for life, but it had ensured that House Targaryen would not be replaced by a bastard line as the royal family. While prince Baelor Targaryen sadly had died at the infamous Tourney at Ashford Meadow in the trial of seven that had been demanded by his nephew Aerion, two of Myriah's four sons had still managed to become ruling Kings of Westeros and the current Targaryen line was her descendants, how much Aerys had disliked to be reminded of that. 

“ _ Hail, oh glorious daughter of the sun! Princess of Dorne, my wife and queen! What joy you have brought to my life, from strangers at our wedding, we have now become much dear to each other, and I dare claim to truly love you! May our descendants give House Targaryen a golden age! _ ”

The opera was very good, well researched in the historical background and events that the scenes showed. Both Théodred and Elia enjoyed the performance once it was over, and she planned to send a suggestion to her family about what kind of opera that would be shown this coming winter in the opera house of Sunspear. Daeron II was popular in Dorne for being a faithful husband to Myriah and for keeping peace with her homeland despite all the trouble the rest of Westeros gave him for having Dornish noble men and women as part of the royal court, so this opera would become popular. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asiya is was the Great Royal Wife of the Ancient Egypt's Pharaoh of the Exodus and the adoptive mother of Moses in the Islamic tradition. I thought that if there is a possible in-canon unnamed Martell princess with that name, Elia might name her private mare in a way that would reflect her origins in Dorne
> 
> Daena “the Defiant” Targaryen was born in 145 AC, so that made her 16 years old in 161 AC when she and her two sisters Rhaena, aged 14, and Elaena, aged 11, was locked up for the following decade in the Maidenvault by their brother Baelor in canon. Because the Targaryens do not marry their sisters in this AU, Daena was instead married into House Tarth and given that her husband died two years before Daemon Blackfyre was born in 170 AC, everyone knew that her fourth child would be a bastard. Rhaena and Elaena have same lives as they had in canon
> 
> The Blackfyre heirs being sent to the Wall? Yes, in this AU I imagine that Brynden Rivers managed to convince Daeron II and Myriah of the dangers that could follow if the five remaining sons of Daemon Blackfyre were sent into exile in Essos and Aegor Rivers making them claimants to the Iron Throne along with their own descendants thinking that the Iron Throne should be theirs, so the five brothers took the black once they were old enough and their sisters married into noble houses of Tyroshi as adults
> 
> Anyone who have read the Hedge Knight, the first book in the tales of Dunk and Egg, should know the details of how Baelor, the oldest son of Daeron and Myriah, died


	7. Mother's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother's Day is important in Dorne and Rohan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little sweet "filler" chapter because I felt to add something for Mother's Day

In modern Rohan and other parts of the world, there was annual celebrations to various close members of the family. This was a custom that Dorne gladly had accepted in the past as they had become more modernized under the late Aria Martell and her own mother Amina Martell, despite that nearly all the rest of Westeros kept to the holy days of the the calendar of the Faith of the Seven. 

  
  


As she had been awoken on this morning by her husband and children with breakfast in bed and some nice handmade gifts from all three, Elia had suggested to Rhaenys that a big girl like her should be able to deliver a spoken invitation to Théoden and Elfhild about having a afternoon tea with a theme of Mother's Day. 

“Can I make a invitation card with my clayons?!” Rhaenys asked in eagerness, and Théodred offered to help her with getting the words right. Even Aegon was allowed to draw something on the drawing, for all of that it was a attempt to make a nice yellow star in a corner. 

“I think Aegon will have more fun with helping your mom, you and myself to bake something for the afternoon tea. Oh, and maybe one invitation drawing for great-grandmother Morwen?”

The old Queen Mother of Rohan were living in a smaller apartment in the palace, close to her son and his family, but keeping her distance as to not draw away attention from the younger family members. After all, she did have a point that she would not live forever and they had to present the royal family. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

King Théoden and his wife gladly accepted the invitation, despite that Rhaenys showed up in the middle of their own breakfast time. 

“We will bring your great-grandmother as well, no worry. She will be happy to have afternoon tea.”

Elfhild knew that her four sisters-in-law and their own families was going to show up at some point during the day to give Morwen some gifts for Mother's Day since everyone agreed that grandmothers also counted on this annual celebration. 

“Yay! Gran-gran is gonna have the best cookies!” Rhaenys grinned, happy swirling around the King as he held her hand for some support in the short dance. Elfhild smiled at the scene, she would have loved to pick up Rhaenys and dance with the sweet girl in her arms, but sadly that was not possible because of her spinal cord injury that was the cause to her nearly full paralysis below the waist. Thanks to the rehabilitation she could stand up for a few minutes with support, but her legs would often tremble violently if she stood up too long and it was often the same if she had been out riding for a longer time. Basically, even a mere attempt of walking was out of question for the risk of that she could fall thanks to her legs not supporting her and injury herself. 

“Grandpa, grandma, can we give gran-gran her invitation together?” 

“I see no reason why. We were going to visit her now after breakfast anyway,” Théoden responded fondly as his wife got a hug followed by a kiss from their step-granddaughter. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

In Dorne, Mother's Day were also celebrated this day. As the Martell family had expanded a bit over the past generations, with the current generation and their families, that meant several mothers to honor. Mellario and Ellaria, for example, were two of them. 

“This is for you, mother!” Arianne said in pride as she handed Mellario a rather large wrapped gift. As she opened it, the princess consort found a box with several of her favorite perfumes and sweets all the way from Norvos that Doran had ordered a few weeks earlier, homemade cookies from her daughter and a handprint in dried clay from Quentyn as the four-year-old boy were too young for making any more difficult gifts yet. 

“Oh, how lovely gifts you all have found. Thank you.”

She was very moved by the efforts they had done, and the meaning behind it. For Mellario, it was very important that her own homeland and culture would be a part of her own children's upbringing, which she had made clear to Doran as they had started their courtship. 

Despite that Ellaria were not the mother to Oberyn's four oldest daughters, she was still happy to be given flowers from them, at least. And while she had given birth to a daughter named Eliana not many weeks ago, a legal reason to not be able to be present when Elia had married into the royal family of Rohan, no one doubted that the fifth daughter of Oberyn was named for her paternal aunt. 

“And this is my gift for you, honey.” 

At opening the small box, Ellaria saw that one of her suspicions got confirmed in the form of a engagement ring. 

“You are still four years too early to be joining your uncle and others in the group of bachelors here in Dorne who offers marriage to a paramour, dumbhead!” she exclaimed, but there was no mistake in her joy over the very unexpected gift. Not long after that Dorne had gotten itself independent from Westeros and the Targaryen rule, a new law had been created in the form of that a paramour could become a legal wife or husband if the relationship lasted for more than five years. No one had been surprised by that Lewyn Martell had been one of the first to be married under that law, making his long-time paramour Rhoyne his legal wife and their four children becoming true Martells by law. 

“Well, we can still have a engagement until then,” Oberyn said in seriousness without any joking, earning a pillow in his face from Ellaria and soon that become a start of a big pillow war between the two brothers and their gathered families, little Eliana somehow managing to sleep though all the noise and laughter in the bassinet that had been placed in a corner. 

  
  


Meanwhile, the former prince consort had gone away on a personal errand. 

“Here is some flowers for you and Amina, sweet Aria. Elia would have liked to visit, but as you know from my previous visits, she is happy married in Rohan now so she can not come here as often anymore.”

Ihsan placed the two large bouquets of summer flowers on the sarcophagi of his late wife and mother-in-law. This mausoleum, just outside the city of Sunspear itself, was for the Ruling Princesses or Princes of Dorne together with their consorts, with other members of the family such as younger siblings and children buried at a lower level. According to legend the Sandship, the ancient keep of House Martell since Morgan Martell, had once had a road here when the Martells of old had been buried, and with the arrival of Nymeria, the Rhonyar allied with House Martell expanded the mausoleum together with building the Old palace around the Sunship. 

“I am looking forwards to see what tales of Morgan Martell that might be found in Gondor and the lands south of them. You remember that there is a legend of him being the one to slay Khamûl, one of the Nine Fallen Kings in the service of Sauron, right? Well, you know my interest in old lore and legends, darling, I am hopeless when I gets dragged into something like that and of course it would be impressive to learn if that legend was true.” 

He could almost hear Aria sigh fondly and gently reminds him to not drown in the old mysteries he always found himself into when he did his research. 

“Our boys and the families will come soon to give you flowers as well today.” 

  
  


Viserys and Rhaella was also having a nice Mother's Day, especially as they had gotten tickets from Doran to have a private guiding on the new exhibition at the National Museum. 

“Are it not strange to see your own crown behind the security glass here, mother?” Viserys wondered at seeing one item that he had not seen for some months, not since Rhaella had ordered to have all the heirdoms of House Targaryen at Dragonstone packed down. The historical items had been donated to House Martell and Dorne as a “payment” for Rhaella and Viserys moving there permanently, because Rhaella felt that her own health would not manage the weather at Dragonstone or the poor health care found in Westeros. If she wanted to live to old age without too many health issues from her life as Queen of Westeros, ten pregnancies and twelve years in confinement inside Maegor's Holdfast, she had no other choice but to move to a warmer climate. 

“I am actually glad to be rid of the crown, Viserys. Why should all the heirlooms become ruined by being stored in a damp, drafty castle out on a windblown island out in the sea, when they can be cared for here by the museum staff and visitors be able to see the riches of the Targaryens of old?” 

She nodded towards several dresses in fine fabrics, that had once been worn by other Targaryen queen consorts. Sets of armours, swords and other items were also there. 

“Too bad that we can not see my brother face on the day he chooses to finally visit Dragonstone and find out that not only have we been gone for a long time, all those heirlooms are gone as well,” Viserys laughed, already imagining how horrified Rhaegar would be at a such sight. 

“Lord Robert was kind enough to prove a distraction for us when your brother summoned him back to the capital for a explanation of why we had been photographed in the background at the wedding. Turns out that a bodyguard is very good to prevent a kidnapping that would cost him money for letting us go free.” 

Not that Rhaella and Viserys even had been anywhere near the danger of a kidnapping in the first place, thanks to all the security for the present royal guests, but it was still almost laughable easy to paint up a such scenario if Rhaella claimed that their real reason for visiting was in a attempt to smooth out the relationship between Dorne and Westeros. 

“Mother, would you like some ice-cream cake as a treat for today? I saw a mint chocolate ice cream cake made of brownies and that ice cream in the window to that ice cream shop we usually visit.” 

Viserys knew that his mother loved mint chocolate ever since she first had gotten to taste the exotie treat the first time they were in Dorne, after falling ill on Dragonstone and needing treatment from the modern health care in Dorne. Ever since, he tried to always find a cake or something else with that taste for days like this or her birthday. 

“That would be lovely, thank you.”

The happy smile Rhaella gave her son, would never have been seen in the Red Keep during her time as queen to Aerys. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Back in the royal palace of New Edoras, had Elia and Théodred just finishing baking with the children. Now all that was left do to before the afternoon tea, were to icing the carrot cake and set on the tea, the rest had been neatly set up in the living room of the royal apartment. 

“Grandma! Grandma, grandpa and gran-gran is coming!” Rhaenys called to her parents at spotting the King and Queen of Rohan coming in the corridor that connected the living room with the kitchen, Morwen behind them, just as Aegon accidently pushed a little too hard on the piping bag with the icing before Elia could stop it and nearly half the carrot cake were suddenly covered in the icing while the other half was not. Théodred, who held up a video camera to film the whole scene, laughed at how his stepson looked in confusion at the result, holding up the piping bag as if trying to check if there might be a hole somewhere it should not be. 

“We can still save it, Aegon,” Elia promised as she picked up a dough-scraper in silicone to start spreading the icing more evenly before her son got upset over what had happened. 

“You know, Elia, if I did not know your sweet little ones to be fathered by another man, this scene would really show Aegon as the offspring of my grandson because he once did the same with a birthday cake for me when he was roughy the same age as Rhaenys,” Morwen commented at seeing the carrot cake. 

“I dropped the piping bag with whipped cream straight on the chocolate cake because it slipped out of my hands, grandmother, it just happened to explore without warning at the landing because it was nearly filled to the breaking point!” Théodred protested as he turned around, the video camera now filming his parents and paternal grandmother. Elfhild and Théoden gave each other a meaningful look at that memory, all three of them had been covered in whipping cream just as Morwen arrived, and she had nearly bowed herself double with laughter at what how the scene looked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amina is a RL Arabic name and was also the name of the mother of the prophet Muhammad, so I thought that could fit a Ruling Princess of Dorne
> 
> According to the timeline on the ASOIAF wiki, Quentyn is born in 281 AC, so I think that depending on his birth month, it would make him about six months to one year younger than Rhaenys but older than Aegon who is 15 months younger than his sister 
> 
> Since Elia is alive in this AU and Foreign Lands, I think that Oberyn and Ellaria might name their first shared daughter Eliana instead, a name that means “God have answered” in Hebrew


	8. The emerald Sultana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wife of sultan Mehmed is not impressed by her guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am drawing inspiration from the Topkapı Palace for the imperial palace in Great Moraq. As I have never been there on a visit, I am instead using online photos and maps to help with the descriptions. Thank you for understanding! // Rogercat

Great Moraq was one of the few great empires that had managed to survive across history into modern day. Today it did not hold the same borders as it once had done, but the core of the empire were still there. The same dynasty of sultans since old times, which had also managed to survive thanks to distant blood relatives being adopted by a ruling sultan if he failed to sire a male heir of his own. Thanks to those adoptions, the dynasty still lived on, by the adopted heir marrying one of the princesses whose father was the previous sultan. 

  
  


Eski Saray was the name of the imperial palace, where the sultan lived with his direct family, served by the large army of servants and the royal court gathered there as well. 

“Sultana! Emerald Sultana, your presence is needed in the Audience Chamber for a audience! The sultan is still in meeting with the organizers for the Horse Olympics next year, Princess Jade is having a private time with her latest suitor, the oldest son to prince Lewyn Martell, lord Mahmet still needs another week staying isolated in his chambers to not pass over that bad case of a common cold to his young grandsons and lady Mara is in the middle of holding her weekly salon with important ladies of the nobility! You are the only one not busy in something that would delay you from coming!” 

The young woman in her mid-20s and dressed in the modern riding suit of Rohan, quickly stopped her horse at hearing the nickname she had gotten by the common people in Great Moraq for her favorite gemstone and habit of favoring green clothing, to see the grand vizier himself come running in great haste towards where she had been busy riding.

“Are this audience so important that I have no time to quickly wash off the smell of horse and dress into a more formal dress?” she asked, quickly dismounting and giving the reins to a stable groom before removing her riding helm. By doing so and loosing the hip-long braid that had been set into a bun for the riding, she revealed herself to be one of the rare Rohirrim with reddish-blonde hair rather than pure gold. 

“I would recommend it, my lady, for the two men seeking the audience is knights from Westeros. None of them are from Dorne.”

Ah, she realized the unspoken meaning. By taking her time, it would show the two knights that the nowadays Six Kingdoms were not anything important in the politics of the wider world. 

“And a more pleasant note; Your oldest aunt is here for a formal listing of which family members in the House of Eorl that shall be guests next summer.” 

“Aunt Laywyn is here!? Great, have Suleiman and Mustafa ready for meeting their great-aunt once the two knights have been dealt with.”

Two of her handmaidens hurried away to the part of the palace where the nursery was, to bring the request about the two young princes to their nursemaids. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

An hour later, Jaime Lannister and Jon Connington was finally allowed to enter the Audience Chamber. As they were not exactly used to the weather, which was not far away from the climate at the coasts of Dorne, they could only be grateful for not wearing their suits of armour, for the steel would have drawn the heat of the sun even more. 

“Making us wait for one and a half hour in this warm weather...do they think that they would be able to treat the King like a messenger boy if he was here?!” Jon muttered under his breath, already in a less than acceptable mood because there had been no one expecting them as ambassadors from Westeros when they arrived by ship to Great Moraq, and it had taken more than a week to finally be granted a audience with the sultan. 

“Hush! Let me do the talking, for I do not think our King would be pleased to hear about this mission become ruined by a... **_poorly-timed_ ** comment from your mouth, Connington,” the oldest son of Tywin Lannister whispered quickly at seeing the suspicious glance from one of the guards who escorted them though the long corridor, if one of them knew a few words of the Common Tongue, or guessing the words based on how Jon Conningon spoke, who knew what could happen if it was viewed as a insult to the sultan?

Jaime honestly had no idea how Connington had managed to befriend King Rhaegar back in their youth, but nowadays he was old enough to see a possible reason: Jon Connington was drawn to the current Targaryen monarch in a manner that was not viewed fondly by the Faith, and in the upper classes was viewed as a disaster if a nobleman like Connington had no siblings to take over his lands and titles, because he risked to be the last of a direct line if he did not manage to do his duty in marrying a lady and siring a male heir. 

“Sultana Emma, your guests from Westeros, ser Jaime Lannister from Casterly Rock in the Westerlands and ser Jon Connington of the Stormlands.” 

As the double doors of wood was opened, Jaime could see how the walls of the chamber were covered with mosaic works spangled with azure and gold; the exterior of the fireplace of this chamber made of solid silver and covered with gold, and at one side of the chamber from a fountain water gushed forth from a wall to bring coolness in the afternoon heat. On the golden throne in the form of a baldachin, a very fair woman, dressed in a long dress of green and white silk with golden embroidery and emerald jewelry, was seated. But her golden crown, on top of the reddish-blonde hair, was what drew attention: the top halves of rearing horses made in tiny diamonds, facing each other over a single big emerald. 

The so called “Emerald Sultana”, the consort of Sultan Mehmed, born as princess Emma of the royal House of Eorl in Rohan. 

“Welcome, my lords. I hope that your stay here in Great Moraq have been pleasant so far, despite that your King seems to not have sent a letter to our court to tell of this visit so we could prepare a proper welcome,” Emma spoke up as they bowed deeply in greeting for her. Not wanting Connington to ruin anything from the start, Jaime responded: 

“It is a little hard for king Rhaegar to keep up with the world outside, for his own court is not exactly  **_united_ ** after that Dorne chose to break away and he have to ensure that no harm comes to his queen or heir.”

Emma smiled in a manner that would have been alarmingly alike Rhaella on the day as the Targaryen court had gotten the news of Dorne choosing independency. 

“Oh yes, the little wolf queen from the North, who so rudely escaped her intended stag husband and instead found herself chained for life to a dragon instead. I must say, that the Sun Princess of Dorne and her children are having a much better life with my cousin, far away from the unfaithful prince who now rules six kingdoms instead of seven.” 

Jon Connington grew dark in his face from rage over the insult aimed at Rhaegar. 

“ **_Like father, like son! Both falling for frail women that will not be fertile to give them many children, and what sort of King remains married to a barren wife who is not even able to walk and needs a wheelchair to move around?!_ ** ” 

For a moment, a shocking silence was in the audience chamber. Then Emma's blue eyes narrowed with anger as she glared at Connington, silently daring him to repeat his words without realizing of what kind of danger he just had put himself into. 

“ _ That sort of ableism comments aimed towards my sister-in-law is  _ **_NOT_ ** _ allowed to be spoken or written, you ignorant fool. _ ” 

In the next moment, Jaime saw how someone behind them grabbed hold of Connington and threw him like a sack of wheat over a shoulder as if he weighed nothing. The Lord of Griffin's Roost landed face down on the stone floor, breaking his nose on the impact. Before he could raise his head, a black leather boot, similar in design to riding boots, was placed on the neck and forced him back on the floor from the owner's strength in the leg. 

“Modrige Laywyn!” 

Indeed, it was no one else than princess Laywyn of Rohan, older sister to King Théoden and captain of the Queen guard, the group of female bodyguards for the Queen of Rohan. 

“Sweet nefene, could you please finish the audience with the far more polite ser Lannister while I  **_educate_ ** this uncouth Griffin whose uncontrolled tongue that dear Elia warned us about?” Laywyn smiled at the oldest daughter to her six year younger sister Sunnwyn. 

“Please do, modrige. We can talk afterwards.”

Emma relaxed at once since her aunt would figure out a fitting punishment for Connington for that awful insult towards Elfhild all because she was disabled from that horrible riding accident that could have killed her if things had gone even worse, and the palace guards dragged Connington out under his loud protests that he was a close friend of King Rhaegar and that the Targaryen King would not allow this to pass unnoticed. Jaime, who knew that this mission had originally been another one of the King's poorly-thought out ideas to win a alliance aboard in the hope of slowly stabilizing Westeros with some foreign help, quickly told the sultana of the real reason to why he was here and he was not surprised when Emma refused to agree to the proposal for an alliance by marriage though their children. As she pointed out, both her children so far was male, and with there being no Targaryen princess to be sent to Great Moraq as a bride to either Suleiman or Mustafa in the future, meaning that Rhaegar did not even have anything to offer, the was no use of a such alliance. 

“Besides, I would rather not a daughter-in-law whose parents had a very questionable start of their marriage. Thanks to scientists in the Stormlands who got some secret help from the castle maids in gathering hair and other DNA samples from king Rhaegar when he was visiting Storm's End at the royal tour, we have learned from the use of modern science that while thankfully not inbred, House Targaryen have a gene disorder that causes albinism and various forms of mental disorders. Why would any sane royal family want that kind of diseases to enter their family tree?”

Jaime were not that familiar with genetics because it was not taught to the heirs of various noble houses by the maesters in change of their education, but he could guess that it could explain some of the more odd things about House Targaryen. 

With a last bow from him, the audience was finished. Rhaegar would not get the alliance he had hoped for, all because of how Connington had to ruin it all. 

  
  


On the way out from the palace, he asked the courtier if there was any ships that would sail to Westeros soon. As neither he or Jon Connington was used to have modern pass cards, they could not take a flight to the Free Cities and then sail back home from there. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

For someone who had enjoyed the freedom of being a bastard until some years ago when his parents married, Arash had not escaped some of the education normally given to a prince of house Martell. In character he was alike his cousin Doran, but he could still show himself kin to Oberyn Martell as well. As for that he nowadays were low in the succession order to being a ruling Prince of Dorne, well, there was nothing wrong with him presenting Dorne as a ambassador at foreign courts. 

“Besides, I have been granted a castle of my own to have as a home at marriage, so we would be able to spend half the year in Dorne and half the year here in Great Moraq, if planned carefully.” 

Jade had liked the adult Martell princes when visiting Dorne soon after the country had broken out from the Targaryen reign, and Arash would prove himself a good husband since her parents and brothers also liked him. Since he nowadays were a legal prince, there would be no problems about his origins as a bastard. 

“That would be nice if we could fix it like that, for even with modern transports, moving abroad to a new country can still be troublesome in keeping contact with family and visiting on important holidays.”

Then a loud shout of pain was heard from somewhere in a courtyard not far from the gardens where they happened to be.

“Ooooh, that sounds like the arrogant Griffon Lord is getting roasted for his loose tongue!” Arash laughed when he heard who it was. He had seen Jaime and Connington in the capital just yesterday, and hoped that it would be something nice to tell Elia later in his next weekly letter to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Construction of Topkapı Palace, ordered by the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, began in 1459, six years after the conquest of Constantinople. Topkapı was originally called the "New Palace" (Yeni Saray or Saray-ı Cedîd-i mire) to distinguish it from the Old Palace (Eski Saray or Sarây-ı Atîk-i mire) in Beyazıt Square.
> 
> Sultana Emma, a princess prior to her marriage to Sultan Mehmed of Great Moraq, is named after Emma of Normandy, who was queen of England, Denmark and Norway through her marriages to Æthelred the Unready (1002–1016) and Cnut the Great (1017–1035). 
> 
> Suleiman and Mustafa, the two sons of Emma and Mehmed, is named after Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire and his oldest surviving son Mustafa, who died before Suleiman. 
> 
> inspiration for the dress Emma is wearing at at the audience: https://www.turkeyfamousfor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/traditional-turkish-evening-henna-dresses-online-shopping-1.jpg
> 
> Modrige means maternal aunt and nefene means niece/sister-daughter in Anglo-Saxon, since I uses some real Anglo-Saxon words among the Rohirrim in Foreign Lands I thought that they could fit into this AU as well to mark the difference in languages
> 
> Arash is a name meaning “bright arrow” in Persian, and he is the oldest of four siblings born to Lewyn Martell and his former paramour-turned-wife Rhoyne 
> 
> Since Oberyn is set on marrying Ellaria in this AU, cousin Arash is the Dornish suitor for princess Jade instead


	9. Survivors of a past era

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some contacts between Westeros and Rohan

Autumn had now come, which for the school-aged children and teenagers meant that they would start a new school year. Rhaenys was one of many five-year-olds who started kindergarten this autumn, while Aegon were still in nursery school. 

“Are you feeling like a big girl today for starting kindergarten, Rhae?” Théoden asked, where she sat in his lap at his home office. She had been promised to be allowed helping him to stamp a few important documents now in the morning before it was time to leave for school, while Aegon had been brought out for a small errand. 

“Yes, grandpa.” 

The documents laying in front of them at the desk were actually not that important, merely papers that would go from the King of Rohan to various staff members, but he wanted Rhaenys to feel like she was helping. 

“I hope that was just a common sneezing and not the beginning of a cold that Aegon suddenly surprised us with….”

Suddenly the rotary dial telephone rang. As only a few people had the number to this telephone, he knew that it had to be important. 

“Rhae, please stop stamping for a few minutes, I need to listen on the person in the other end. On the other hand, it is almost time for you to get ready for school, so I can do the rest.” 

“Already half past seven?” Rhaenys asked at seeing the klock and recalling that the welcoming ceremony at the kindergarten would be at eight,”I will tell you and grandma Elfhild about it in the afternoon, then, grandpa.” 

He smiled as she waved goodbye and closed the door. Then, as the king had suspected, this telephone call was from one of their spies in Westeros.

“The landed knight Gregor Clegane was killed yesterday night, Grima? The smallfolk of the Westerlands had enough of him when he...oh, no, do not tell more details, I feel sick just at the mental idea of how it must have looked like for the poor girl's parents to find her like that. Setting his house on fire in order to force him out in the night darkness and then shooting him multiple times with the guns and rifles Saruman had secretly gifted them, before using halberds to behead him? And then setting his separated head and body on fire to ensure that he is really dead?”

Well, that was something that was bound to be found at the front lines in the Westerosi newspaper, for sure. And if the previous reports of Grima was true, then Tywin Lannister would have a hard time finding the murderers because Gregor Clegane were infamous as a monster in human form for his size and brutal strength. It did not help that he was rumoured to have killed his younger brother and sister some years ago, according to what Grima had learned during his years as a spy in Westeros together with other people.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

In a house near Storm End:

Saruman White did not seem surprised at all when he got the morning newspaper by a housemaid and the Westerlands section was full of the news about the murder. 

“My lord, are not this going to cause trouble? Lord Lannister and the other nobles are going to demand a trial…

Of course, Grima, a native of Rohan and serving as a spy for the King here in Rohan as one of the agents under Saruman, mainly because his Dunlending ancestry allowed him to blend in better among the people of the Stormlands and sometimes the North as well, were not so sure about this situation.

“Tywin Lannister will not be able to punish anyone for this. Gregor Clegane brought this nasty way of dying upon himself for treating other people like things to ruin. He was already infamous for being a brute with women, but to do that with a underage girl was the last drop. The smallfolk sends their children aboard for adoption exactly for that reason, to save them from being ill-treated by the knights and nobles who thinks that they are above everyone else. Foolish, since the smallfolk are the ones growing their food served on their tables.” 

Grima said nothing in protest. He had overheard the smallfolk being displeased for many reasons, the Stark girl replacing the beloved Elia Martell as Queen consort by the current king's side being only one of those reasons, and there would be only a matter of time before a full-scale revolution broke out. It would not matter if it was king Rhaegar Targaryen, queen Lyanna Stark or someone among them that lightened the spark, it was bound to happen in the coming years. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Later that first day of the new school year, one of the public schools n New Edoras:

“And this is how I am distantly related to the Princess and her children,” the teacher explained as he finished a family tree on the blackboard. Some of his students had commented about that he looked a little like a photo of the current Targaryen king, and thus he had made the family tree to explain it. 

“So you are the brother of lady Rhaelle Baratheon! I did not know that, for you are not that alike, teacher!” 

The 57-year-old teacher was no one else than Daeron, the youngest son of Aegon V Targaryen, though nowadays it was rare for others to know that detail as he and his nowadays husband Jeremy Norridge had chosen exile aboard and fainting out of Westerosi history soon after that Daeron had broken his betrothal to Olenna Redwyne, now known as Dowager Lady of Highgarden since she was left as a widow after the death of her husband Luthor Tyrell, originally the husband of Shaera Targaryen for less than a year before she killed herself under mysterious circumstances, though many signs indicated that Shaera had chosen to commit suicide as the way out of the, for her very unwanted, marriage because she did not stand the idea of Luthor as her husband and being the mother of his children. 

“Sure, Luthor was something of a oaf, but he would never have mistreated her or dishonored their wedding vows with a bastard…” 

Personally, Daeron had always found his oldest sister selfish because people would often flatter her as being a true Targaryen beauty, and often able to influence Jaehaerys in a manner that had alarmed their parents even before Aegon had became the fifteenth Targaryen King on the Iron Throne. The raise in status to become the royal children, the offspring of the King, had not helped to make Shaera more humble or Jaehaerys seeing the benefits of modern medicine that might have been able to improve his health.

“Only Duncan and Rhaelle inherited the black hair of our late mother Betha Blackwood, while the other three of us got the Targaryen hair colour. I think I have a photo somewhere in my briefcase...”

The photo was black-and-white as it had been back then, and the royal family was posing for a formal photo, but all seven was there.

“Teacher, what happened to Duncan and Jenny of Oldstone?”

Ugh, did his students have to remind him of his idiotic brother who had caused it so Rhaelle had married a Baratheon spouse instead of himself? Daeron made a personal note to make a reminder about what he prefered to not speak about. His two oldest brothers and sister was one such subject, because of far too many memories that felt a sour taste in his mouth. 

“They died in the Tragedy of Summerhall, together with my parents. They never had any children, so no nephews or nieces from that marriage for me.”

  
  


Once the work day was over, and him ensuring that there was no students remaining on the school ground, did his cell phone suddenly ring. 

“Oh, it is Rhaelle…”

Only when he answered the call, did Daeron recall that he had failed to send her the monthly gift of small cheeses, intended for a cheese tray, only made in Rohan. No doubt that she must be angry about that, because he had been so busy with preparing for his work as a school teacher for the new school year.

“ **_WHERE IS THE PROMISED PACKAGE OF GIFTS FOR MY GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER?! SHIREEN IS THREE MONTHS OLD NOW AND THERE IS NO GIFTS FROM YOU TWO YET!!_ ** ” 

Oh, right, the gifts for little Shireen. They had forgotten to send it, no wonder Rhaelle was cross with him. 

“We will send it tomorrow, I promise! The reason for the delay is something that happened at the swimming school for small children, Jeremy got stuck with a really bad case of pneumonia after saving a elderly lady from drowning in the river Snowbound when she was struck by a sudden heart attack while trying to teach her own grandchild swimming…” 

That had really not been how Daeron and Jeremy had planned their summer, not at all. It had been a long stay in the hospital for Jeremy while Daeron needed to work a extra part-job at a local food store in order to gain enough money for the hospital bill, despite some of the cost being covered by the sickness and accident insurance they both had as civilians of Rohan. No, the really expensive part of the bill were the medicines Jeremy had needed for the weeks afterwards when he returned home. 

“The gifts for Shireen will be at Storm End before the weekend, I promise, dear sister. Even if Jeremy and I have to arrive there by flight from Rohan and boat from Essos because there is no boat traffic from Dorne to the rest of Westeros anymore!”

Once Rhaelle quit their conversation, did Daeron call home to Jeremy and reminded him about the gifts for Shireen.

“I will treat us to something delicious on our favorite restaurant in exchange for ensuring that the package is sent tonight, ok, darling?”

That was the least thing they could do, since Shireen was their great-niece after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I like the idea of Théoden having a “1930s” rotary dial telephone on his home office, not merely for any possible issues he might have with understanding modern technology, but because I think they look very stylish and elegant
> 
> It is not mentioned in the LOTR books if Gríma Wormtongue truly have Dunlending blood among his ancestors, but since he is darker-haired and physically smaller than the other Rohirrim, it seems rather likely. Besides, he might be able to blend in among the people of Westeros better as a spy 
> 
> In this AU Daeron and Jeremy left Westeros for a new life in Rohan in 246, the same year as he ended his betrothal to Olenna. He kept in contact with Aegon, Betha and Rhaelle afterwards, but both he and Rhaelle crashed horribly with Jaehaerys in terms of their personalities and views (Jaehaerys being far more conservative, Rhaelle and Daeron taking after Aegon in wanting to modernize Westeros) to the point of Jaehaerys flat out refused to let his two youngest siblings be present for a final farewell of Aegon and Betha at the royal burial after the Tragedy of Summerhall
> 
> Jaehaerys II is mentioned to have been sickly, and suffered from numerous ailments throughout his life. His death at the age of 37, after a reign of only three years after Aegon V, is the reason behind my headcanon that he actually was born premature and his sickly health
> 
> As I mentioned in the ending notes of chapter 2, there is no Targaryen incest in this story, but I think that Shaera was still able to have a great influence on Jaehaerys because they likely was very close growing up and Celia Tully was unable to replace Shaera after her death, which affected the marriage between Celia and Jaehaerys to become so miserable to the point of that they quit sharing a bed after that Aerys was born, him being a son and heir so they did not even try for a second son to have as a spare


	10. Rules of the upper classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Social manners are important, no matter who you are

The port of Storm's End, not far from the castle itself:

“My, my, the young lion arriving here as a guest despite it being a unusual ship you comes back with,” Rhaelle greeted Jaime as he entered land from the big shipping boat, “where is that annoying griffin you were sent aboard with?” 

He was in no way surprised over the question. 

“Ah, how to say it...Connington made one of those classical breakings of the unspoken rules as he sometimes did around princess Elia. Mylady knows, not being able to keep his mouth shut when it was needed and only risking to make more enemies because of insults.” 

The Dowager Lady Storm's End facepalmed over the idiocy of the Lord of Griffin's Roost, already having a bad feeling from the way he answered. Really, the current King was surrounded by other fools and depending on how long he stayed as Hand, Tywin Lannister would likely find himself in the role of being a royal babysitter or needing to clean up whatever royal mess again. 

“He better not have insulted the Sultan or the Sultana of Great Moraq, that is a big no-no because they are so much higher in social status!” 

“Ah, not them, but he forgot that the Sultana is the niece of the King of Rohan, and he insulted the Queen consort of Rohan for needing a wheelchair.”

Rhaelle was honestly stunned in disbelief by what she heard. Was the current royal court in King's Landing some concoction of pure stupidity affecting anyone who spent a longer time around Rhaegar and Lyanna, where no common sense could be found?

“I repeat myself, young Lannister:  **_Where is that damned griffin?_ ** He have not been home in his ancestral castle for nearly two years, not since he all but dumped his unexpected Frey bride there once her pregnancy was confirmed.” 

Ah, right, Jaime recalled the so called “griffin scandal” not long after that Lyanna Stark had become the new wife of Rhaegar. At the coronation, many of the nobles of Westeros had shown up, among them Walder Frey and his endless growing brood of children both within and outside marriage bed. Perhaps seeing the royal wedding as a chance to catch a husband of higher status for herself since two legal-born sisters was already wed of and the other two still too young for bedsport, one of the bastard born daughters of Lord Frey had somehow been found in bed with a rather drunk Jon Connington the day after the coronation, and the Lord of the Crossing made a massive fuss over it all. Refusing to let his “dear daughter” be shamed over losing her maidenhead to the close friend of the King despite that she was not born to a legal wife and before the end of the coronation week, Jon Connington found himself trapped in marriage to Violet Rivers in front of the whole royal court in the Great Sept of Baelor and having a very unwanted number of in-laws because despite his wife being born to a house maid, because House Frey would not let that marriage slip though their fingers. 

“Right, I shall show.” 

Jaime turned around to the crew of the Essosi and asked them something. As they used a chain to pull up something heavy from the cargo hold, did Lysa show up with Shireen in a baby carriage and a few of her own ladies-in-waiting right behind. 

“Lady Baratheon, I know that you have found a new hobby of photographing. Perhaps this might be something worth sharing with the masses in the  _ Storm News, _ ” Jaime addressed her, mentioning the most important newspaper here in the Stormlands. 

“Oh, that must be something unusual, then,” Lysa said in surprise. But she did have her photo camera with her, since this was a calm day with fine weather and many lovely views to take photos of. 

A large container of wood was placed on the ground, and opened. At first, everyone of the ladies just started. Then Lysa could not hold in her laugher at the sight: 

Jon Connington was sitting inside a cage, the sort once used to transport animals between various zoos, wearing a scold's bridle, with his hands and feet caught in two sets of handcuffs, dressed in only a loincloth for any attempt of modesty.

“The handwork of Princess Laywyn of Rohan, a sister to the king, who happened to overhear her sister-in-law being insulted.” 

“Oooooh, she have made a good work on teaching him a lesson to keep his tongue in control, though it can be hard to tell whatever he have learned it,” Rhaelle smirked, making no move of stopping Lysa from taking several photos of Connington like this. And if she was right, another horror for Connington was just coming closer. 

“ **_HUSBAND!! How DARE you leave me alone and remain at the court, and then run off aboard with Lannister!?_ ** ” 

The yelling woman who came running, was no one else than Violet Connington, the natural daughter of Walder Frey who had been visiting Storm's End out of no other reason than being bored to death at her new household because her husband had not even visited her at the birth of their daughter, conceived on the coronation night after that she had gotten Jon so drunk that he had not paid much attention to that it was a woman in his bed. 

“Right, Lady Connington,” Rhaelle greeted the young woman, ”as your good-for-nothing husband is not among the lords here in the Stormlands who have signed under to switch into absolute primogeniture for their Houses, I am afraid that you have to share a bed with him again to try for a son.”

Since Jon Connington clearly was horrified by the mention of sleeping with his wife again, it was pretty easy to guess why he was always at court instead. Rhaelle had guessed early on that he was into Rhaegar, and most of his behavior towards both Elia Martell and Lyanna Stark was out of jealousy that they were women who had married the “silver prince” and giving him children. 

“Our daughter is well past two years old, my lady, it is high time for her to get a brother since my father is known for his many sons! It simply was poor luck the first time! And I know that the servants will take good care of my baby girl, I did warn that I did not know when I would return home.” 

Ordering a few strong-armed workers to bring the cage with Jon Connington to a tower in Storm's End and chain him to the bed there so he could not escape Violet until that she was pregnant again, Rhaelle offered Jaime to stay as a guest of House Baratheon for a week at least. 

“It is not like the King gave you two a deadline to arrive back to Westeros, right.”

No, he had not. Besides, Jaime wanted to send a few letters to his family members before he traveled further towards the capital by train. Cersei had wed his good friend Addam Marbrand just before this journey, so he wanted to hear how she found life as a married woman. Not to mention, he had also married not long ago, Rayelle Lanny, a distant relative. There would be no time to make a stop at Casterly Rock now, even with the railroads, but perhaps after telling the king the result of this journey. 

  
  


Of course, Rhaegar was not pleased to hear that the Sultana had refused the marriage offer, and that her husband had done the once Jaime got to meet the Sultan as well. As for Connington insulting the Queen consort of Rohan, well, he had already faced one punishment for it by one of the other princesses of Rohan. But Rhaegar found himself in a corner when Jaime reminded him of that the insult likely would be spread by the palace servants in Great Moraq, and eventually become known around world. So Jon Connington ended up banished from the Red Keep for a year, with firm orders to stay in his lands and not leave the Stormlands until the deadline. If he tried to disobey, then Stannis Baratheon would have the right to send Connington over to Robert and have them help each other keeping the Ironborn away from the Westerlands. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Late autumn of year 285 after the conquest, Red Keep: 

It was rare for Rhaella to be seen at the royal court nowadays, but this time several of her old friends had gathered here together to celebrate the end of autumn. For her, it would be a bittersweet farewell of her life as a Targaryen queen consort, bitter because it could be the last time she saw many of her trusted ladies alive, for even when past the time of childbearing for their husbands many of them were victims of the poor health care and likely would not live to old age, and sweet because this was the final time she had to be here. 

“Oh, your highness!? You have changed!” 

Of course, Rhaella had grown tired of her long hair because it only reminded her of her marriage as well all the complicated hairstyles that she needed to wear at court parties before she was locked up for over a decade, and even got a suggestion to cut it. Personally she liked the result of the chin-length bob cut she had chosen. Besides, her time in Dorne so far had transformed her into a far more healthy person than before. 

“Look, it is the Dowager Queen!” 

“I did not recognize her at first! She looks so different from before!”

Well, it was only natural that her modern empire waist dress in lilac silk would stand out among the dresses worn by the court. Really, Lyanna Stark might have formed a more North-inspired style of dress, being the current queen and all, but it was something that did not flatter everyone past a certain age because of that the North tended to be slow in accepting new fashion models, and because she kept using the dress style he had worn at the tourney of Harrenhal, the light grey dress itself consisted of several layers of smaller overskirts on top of the main center-parted skirt, short puffed sleeves and a round collar. It was perhaps a dress suitable for a young maiden not yet married and still wearing the colours of her birth House, but inappropriate clothing for a married woman who was closer to twenty than fifteen. 

“Lady Mother! What a surprise see you here instead of you staying at Dragonstone all the time!” Lyanna spoke out aloud at seeing her mother-in-law, nearly rushing over to her like a child, perhaps to let Rhaegar know that his mother was here. 

But to the shock of the 19-year-old, Rhaella merely ignored her and instead focused her talk to one of her former septas, who had gotten new duties after that Rhaella had moved away from the court with Viserys.

“I hope that everything is going well in the orphanage that  _ Princess Elia _ founded? She likely worries about how it is being handled those days.” 

Rhaella knew perfectly well that it was rude to ignore the Stark girl, but she truly would prefer to not speak with her at all. As if Lyanna, ten years younger and growing up sheltered, away from the reality outside her childhood or knowing how a lady of her social rank was meant to behave, would be able to be superior to Elia in any way. Where Lyanna once had been the symbol of youthful freshness, it was worthless in the longer run compared to the mature woman who were her predecessor. Sure, those who had been against a Dornish queen had jumped at the chance to replace Elia, but nowadays many of them likely regretted that action with how Lyanna was in personality. 

“ **_Mother!_ ** ” 

Naturally, Rhaegar storming over drew the attention of all the gathered nobles in the throne room. 

“Why did you ignore Lyanna?! She is the queen of Westeros, my wife!!”

But she had a answer ready for that. Honestly, how could she have given birth to a such disappointment to son, when he had studied so much as a child? Oh yes, old-fashioned upbringing because her father-in-law Jaehaerys II were too blinded to see how reality worked together with the modern world. 

“A Queen dowager is higher than a queen consort in terms of  **_seniority._ ** I may be a remainder of the past era, clearly lower in terms of birth status than the daughter of a Lord Paramount because House Penrose is a noble house, yet we are one of the most powerful nobles right after House Baratheon. But I am a Targaryen descendant though princess Elaena, just like  _ dear Elia _ is though princess Daenerys Martell nee Targaryen one generation later. Therefore, in terms of our roles with the royal family itself, I am above sweet  **_little Lya_ ** .”

High time to scold her foolish soon and his unschooled she-wolf again, to remind them that they could not act as they pleased because they were fully grown adults, not school-aged children. Besides, if Lyanna kept acting like a child, then she would be treated like one, simple as that. 

“People of a lower status carelessly conversing with someone of a higher rank will have their behavior questioned. With Lyanna being my current daughter-in-law and the woman wearing the queen crown, she must learn how to conduct herself.  _ Or do you secretly desire Viserys to be King in your stead as you vanish somewhere unknown with the she-wolf and your little dragon-wolf cub to son, Rhaegar? _ Perhaps somewhere in Dorne, Arthur Dayne might know a few places for running away, but he is not exactly welcomed back in his former homeland due to being associated with you.” 

People had started to mumble around them. And the King seemed stuck by lighting mentally, for he was unable to find any words. Well, Rhaella had no plans to waste more time on her son and daughter-in-law. This was her final farewell to her life as a member of House Targaryen by marriage, a former queen who wanted to leave that sort of life behind.

“I have a son that await my return to him. As he was sick from a cold, Viserys was unable to come along today.”

What a lie. Viserys were in school back home in Dorne, just one class below Arianne Martell, and perfectly healthy. It was just a excuse to leave early and return home. 

“Enjoy your she-wolf while things are still calm, Rhaegar. Whatever there will be a new pup born soon or not. You have shamed me, both as a queen and mother, so from now on, you are on your own. You better wise up quickly before anything bad would happen.” 

With those final words, she left the Red Keep though a side door, never looking back on the king who she had given birth to, and seemed to vanish before anyone could stop her. 

  
  


As Rhaella had entered the capital though the secret tunnels, it was very easy for her to return there with her secret escort, since Lewyn Martell and several of his own people knew where to go. It was them who had escorted her to the capital for this final sight of her in the Red Keep.

“A fine farewell to your old life, my lady. The royal court will not stand united for long when Viserys is no longer around as an alternative to his brother as king.”

Holding her high-heel shoes in one hand while she now used plain everyday shoes to not slip somewhere, Rhaella enjoyed the warmth of her modern jacket because it was not so warm down here in the tunnels.

“I am doing this to spare Viserys, Rhaenys and Aegon from the ugly results of my oldest son's actions. They are innocent in the game of thrones, and if the upper top of Westeros does not wise up soon, they will find out they hard way that all the attempts of gaining power is worthless when the messes breaks the old class system apart.”

Rhaella had already disowned her eldest son and his second wife in all but name. For her, only Viserys and her two grandchildren by Elia counted as her closest relatives those days. Her brother had expressed regret over being able to help Rhaella, but since Lyanna had shamed the Stormlands though her actions since Robert Baratheon originally was her husband-to-be, the royal family was not exactly popular in the Stormlands anymore. Not that Rhaella blamed her homeland for that response, all actions had their consequences, no matter how big or small. By openly disowning her eldest son, she would prove that she would not protect Rhaegar and his wolf-queen when the smallfolk had enough of their idiocy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Walder Frey is mentioned to have seven daughters and twenty-two sons from his first seven marriages in 298 A.C, so based on their possible years of birth, his third and fourth daughter might have been just have started puberty at the time of the coronation of Rhaegar and Lyanna in 282. A little too young for marriage yet, so one of their older half-sisters took the chance to ensnare Connington in marriage instead.
> 
> Yes, Lyanna have zero fashion sense, proving it by keeping a dress style that is more suited for her pre-married self than current self as a queen. Not helped by the lack of a female role model while growing up 
> 
> Rhaella's scolding of Rhaegar and Lyanna are directly inspired by chapter 29, by the words spoken by the mother to the female main character, in the manga Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami, or as the English title is: Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter


	11. Training for the Olympics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elia's 30th birthday, and some bad news a few weeks later

Year 286 A.C, New Edoras in Rohan:

By the time her 30th birthday arrived, a month after the Winter Solstice, Elia knew that things were good in the family. The traditional gun salute that happened on a royal birthday had been heard at midday

“It is nice to hear that the exchange students from Rohan are doing well in Dorne, Ellaria, I was a bit worried about the climate difference because Rohan is less of a desert.” 

“Yes, that was one of the biggest worries the exchange program discussed already from an early point. And Doran told the schools to find them boarding houses near the coasts so the exchange students would not have too much trouble with the remaining summer heat when the school year began.”

The best birthday gift today was the surprise of her father, siblings and their families being there to celebrate. Uncle Lewyn had stayed behind in Dorne as a regent while Doran was here, but he, aunt Rhoyne and her cousins had sent gifts along in the baggage. 

“What a lot of gifts mama has gotten!” 

Of course, her maternal relatives had sent a few toys for Rhaenys and Aegon too, to “even it out” as Lewyn had written in a note to his sister-daughter. Her daughter was very happy over her new crayons, and Aegon was already trying to finish building a half-built tower with his new wooden blocks.

“Yes, there are many fine gifts.” 

A new dress in a warm golden fabric, some elegant jewelry in amber, emerald and diamonds to fit the colours of Dorne and Rohan, a few of her favorite books in a new printing, a new wallet in leather with the sign of House Martell carved into the front, five scented candles for when she wanted to make a home spa, a full set of a teapot and belonging cups for afternoon tea with even two more child-friendly ones for her children to use while still young, a sleep mask to use when on long travels and finally a photo album from her father. 

“Oh, those photos are from Théodred's second visit to Dorne, when he came to oversee the air transport of the sand steeds we exported to Rohan that autumn!”

Her father had even managed to take photos of Rhaenys as she offered Théodred her half-eaten piece of water melon and Aegon, then only eight months old, as he crawled over to his future stepfather and used his pant leg as support to pull himself up on unsteady legs as her son had not yet mastered to stand on her own two feet without anything to hold on to. 

“And this is the best scene from that visit, as per my own opinion,” Ihsan smiled while holding up a VHS. 

“Oh no, padre, you are not showing that to my in-laws right now! We are sparing that video to the day Aegon has finished his Graduation ceremony,” Elia pretended to protest, but she was not surprised when one of the royal sisters took the VHS from Ihsan and walked into the tv room to set it on. 

“It is only the family right now,” Théodred offered in support as they all sat down in front of the tv to see. 

  
  


_ Rhaenys getting to offer a carrot to one of the horses, while Théodred made sure to keep her feet away from the hooves. Elia holding Aegon in her arms as she did not want him to crawl around and risk getting kicked in the head.  _

_ “More carrot?” Rhaenys asked, and got to look in the empty bowl they had carried the cut-up carrots in.  _

_ “Sadly, that was the last carrot. But it was enough for all the horses, at least,” the Prince of Rohan responded kindly. Then, as Elia turned slightly towards the video camera without noting it, Aegon suddenly pointed on Théodred while saying rather loudly:  _

_ “ _ **_Papa!_ ** _ ” _

_ Of course, that caught the two adults off guard, since it was only the second time her children met him on those visits to Dorne and Aegon would not remember Rhaegar at all since her first husband had not paid much attention to either one of his children.  _

_ “Aegon?! Did you overhear your Sand cousins call uncle Oberyn that earlier as he was watching you for me!?” she exclaimed in surprise, a look that Théodred shared over the unexpected word from the baby boy, while Rhaenys naturally tried to ask why her baby brother called their guest that.  _

  
  


Of course many of the family members did laugh over what Aegon had said in the video, given how it had ended. 

“Clever kid, that one. Same for his sister, as they were likening him well before the grand romance,” Morwen smiled as she gave her adopted great-grandchildren some pieces of round marmalade candy that the Queen Mother of Rohan had divided into smaller pieces. Of course, some minor drama had to happen when sweets were involved. 

“I want the nougat pieces, lady Mildwyn!” Obara demanded, as Mildwyn had to hold the chocolate box above her head before Elia's oldest niece could grab any more for her sisters and cousins.

“We adults would like some Wienernougat too, young lady.” 

All in all, it was a very good birthday for Elia, spent in the pleasant company of family. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

With spring arriving, the national team that would present Rohan at the Horse Olympics was not allowing themselves to be lazy about the training. That the future King and his consort was part of the team, only worked as another motivation together with that Rohan had won the Olympics several times in the past century. 

“As the son of a female winner of the Cross-Country that led Rohan to become the winner of the Olympics 32 years ago, I want to prove myself in the show jumping.” 

In fact, Elfhild happened to be a winner of the Cross-Country competition in the Olympics not just once, but actually being the surprise winner of it four years earlier when it was her first time as part of the team for Rohan. 

“Oh yes, winning it both at age 24 and at age 28, only four weeks before her wedding to the Crown prince of Rohan. What a glorious mother! Which just adds to the tragedy of her injury because I can really see her trying for a third victory four years after our shared birth year if she had not been nearly paralyzed below the waist,” Elia agreed once her husband had finished his training and dismounted to check over Silvermoon so there was no hidden injury on the hooves or legs. 

“Knowing my mother, yes, she would have tried for a third victory if she had not been pregnant that year or still been nursing a sadly non-existing sibling to me. Still, it proved a reason for how they met, as the national team are always invited to a celebration dinner with the royal family even in the years when our kingdom does not win the Olympics.” 

  
  


Of course, things were not ideal on other areas, as proven when Elia got a direct telephone call from one of the Dornish spies in the Red Keep despite that she was about to head for bed when the call came: 

“Rhaegar wants Westeros to take part in the Horse Olympics?! And drag the whole royal court with him!? When it is only four months left and he will have to gather together the best riders from all the six kingdoms in King Landing, find enough ships to travel all the way to Great Moraq and somehow squeeze in training for his chosen team during said travel?” 

By the Mother Rhoyne and the Valar, Rhaegar must be truly desperate to get Aegon and Rhaenys back into his hands because he still only had one child from his second wife. From what the spies sent to Doran with information of what happened in the court of the Red Keep, the maesters had actually forced her former husband and his wolf queen to take a year of sexual absence, if the King of Westeros did not want his she-wolf to either risk her losing a child in a miscarriage or flat out becoming barren because her uterus was not allowed to rest sufficiently between each pregnancy. 

“Ugh, I better warn Emma and Mehmed at once about this so we can make a counterattack when the Westerosi arrive by the sea.” 

Naturally, the Sultan and Sultana of Great Moraq were not pleased to hear about those news either when Elia explained why she called so late in the evening. 

“ _ Let them come and have a taste of what the modern world thinks of their backwards traditions. _ ” 

That was all Mehmed could promise for now as they did not know when the Targaryen royal court would leave the capital to sail for Great Moraq, but Elia did not doubt that Rhaegar would deeply regret leaving Westeros in a few months. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have that little joke about Aegon calling Théodred papa from Foreign Lands showing up! I thought it would be funny if it was caught on video by Ihsan while he filmed the scene to add into his collection of funny events from when his children and grandchildren were young 
> 
> The round marmalade candies are based on Fazer FINLANDIA Classic Fruit Jellies Marmalade, a favorite of mine in RL. Same with the Wienernougat


	12. Comfortable travels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trains and modern planes makes for comfortable travels

Beginning of July, year 286 A.C: 

Because her mother Joanna could have survived the catastrophic caesarean section when Tyrion was born, if only she had travelled to the Stormlands for the modern medical treatment, Cersei Marbrand nee Lannister and her sister-in-law Rayne Lannister had agreed on that their children would **_NOT_ ** be born in the Westerlands. 

“Father thought that all she needed was the maester and some local midwives to survive the birth, and look what it ended up costing him! A dead wife and three motherless children!” Cersei commented as they saw the end station for the train come closer. At her side, Rayelle stopped in the knitting for the baby clothing to see the new landscape around them. 

“Yes. It would have been a heavy blow to House Lannister if it happened twice over again.” 

In fact, they had used Joanna's way of dying as a legal reason to give birth in the modern hospitals near Storm's End. Surely Tywin did not want to lose his own daughter in the same way as his beloved wife and risk having to search for a new wife for Jaime too, if Rayelle were lost?

  
  


Lady Lysa Baratheon was waiting on her guests on the station, since Cersei and Rayelle would be allowed to live in a house near the castle for the last two months of their pregnancies. 

“I am glad to have you as guests for dinner tonight. It is regrettable that we will leave for the Horse Olympics tomorrow, but sometimes things do not work out as originally planned.”

“It is already nearly a month since Rhaegar, his wolf queen and the royal court together with that hasty scraped together riding team for Westeros left King Landing on those three big ocean liners,” Cersei realized when she recalled which day it was. Well, her poor brother and husband must be bored out of their minds now, after spending everyday in that company. And she felt even more sorry for Catelyn Stark, who had been dragged along on that trip with her husband Brandon and brother-in-law Eddard because Lyanna insisted on that a member of her birth family would be one of the riders presenting Westeros, while having to leave her two children in the care of Lord Rickard Stark and the nursery staff while she was away for, what could it be in time, the whole summer?

  
  
  


The dinner went well even if Stannis was his usual unsocial self who did not speak much, and despite her young age Shireen showed herself to be a happy little girl who charmed the two unknown ladies by eating up all the food on her plate.

Still, while they were given a tour around the castle by Rhaelle and Lysa together, Cersei was a little surprised to see who her nanny was, Selyse Florent, of all people.

“I wrote to lady Baratheon and pleaded for the position as soon as she was pregnant, as I could not stand the drama of the royal court. Besides, I had no wish to marry yet,” the Reach noble woman explained in a blunt manner, while Shireen played with the long braid that Selyse had tossed over one shoulder as a manner of distracting the young heiress. 

“Excuse me, I need to answer that call,” Rhaelle said at hearing the telephone in her office ringing. When she lifted it up, a loud voice was at the other end: 

“ _GRANDMA PLEASE LET ME COME HOME!! THERE IS NOTHING FUN TO DO HERE ON THIS ISOLATED PLACE IN THE NORTH!!_ ”

Making a grimace over how loud her youngest grandson was on the phone, the Dowager Lady of Storm's End responded in a strict tone: 

“Renly. You told some very private things about me, your brothers, Lysa and Shireen to the newspapers here in the Stormlands in an attempt to be given more attention than just “the youngest Baratheon brother”. That is not acceptable and unless lady Maege Mormont herself confirms that you have learned a lesson by spending the whole sommer at the annual summer camp at Bear Island, you will stay there. And if you have not learned anything from this at the end of summer, you will be sent to the boarding school in White Harbour for the rest of your years in Primary and Secondary school!”

She cut off the phone call before Renly could protest and wail like a tantrum-throwing toddler about how cruel she was. Really, she should have fired that hopeless nanny of his much sooner, before she spoiled Renly so much by giving in to his wishes and dotting on him for being orphaned from that horrible storm that took Steffon and Cassana before he even was a year old! It was truly regrettable that the wonderful nanny of Robert and Stannis, who once had cared so well for her own Steffon many years earlier, sadly died from old age before Renly was born. 

“Tyrion loves the summer camp at Tarth since he first arrived there some years ago, so I can not see why Renly would feel the same. The summer camps at Bear Island are well-known to teach useful survival skills,” Rayelle said, once the first shock over how Renly had acted over the phone call had vanished. 

“Maybe the location up in the North is what displeases him so,” Cersei smiled at her sister-in-law, knowing that Rayelle only meant that Renly should not see Bear Island as some form of hell to stay on. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

Two days later, the Martells made themselves ready to be part of the important guests at the Horse Olympics. Rhaella and Viserys would come along too, because this was something they wanted to see.

“I am not surprised that a big flight was needed, even if it is only Ihsan, his sons, their wives, Arianne and we who will travel together with the Baratheons!” Viserys told his mother as they stayed in the waiting room to board the plane soon. Oberyn and Ellaria had agreed that the children would stay at home, because heaven knew what could happen if all five of his daughters came along. Not that the Sand Snakes would cause any trouble at an international event, no, but rather how much people that would be there. And poor Quentyn had gotten injured his foot while playing in the Water gardens this very weekend, so he could not come either. 

“My Princes.”

There was Stannis, Lysa and Rhaelle coming. But someone seemed to be missing?”

“Where is Shireen? Did you choose to leave her at home?” 

“Crawling around like a good little lady so she will be tired and sleep during the journey. Selyse is nearby so they will come soon.”

  
  


Indeed, Selyse arrived with the one-year-old Baratheon heiress just before it was time to board the flight. The black palms and knees on Shireen told what she had been doing. 

“Shireen! What did you do?!” Stannis scolded his daughter at seeing how she looked.

“She crawled so fast that she almost managed to escape from my eyes among the other travelers! I am so sorry that I did not have time to wash off her hands at least!” Selyse explained as she took up a baby wipe after seating herself in her seat and began to clean off Shireen's hands. 

“Well, she should sleep nicely after that exercise. She looks like she could fall asleep right after some hot milk,” Mellario offered as comfort over the little drama that the toddler had caused. One of the flight attendants heated up the baby bottle with milk for Selyse, so Shireen could drink and her swallowing of the milk would ensure that it would not start hurting in her ears when the plane rose into the air. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we just say that Tywin ignored how useful ultrasound would be to learn early on that Tyrion had a big head that made it very difficult for Joanna to give birth the normal way and that she would have lived if she had been treated by the modern doctors in the Stormlands? 
> 
> Renly is not as bad as he likely was as a child in canon, but he is still very attention-seeking by others because he tends to land in the shadows of his older brothers (Robert as the Master of Ships keeping the Ironborn from attacking, Stannis as the acting Lord of Storm End while Robert is away) and he really did not like that Shireen “stole” HIS place as the baby of the family at birth! So after catching him revealing family secrets to the press, Rhaelle had him shipped off to Bear Island in the hope of that some months in the hands of Maege during the annual summer camp should teach him a lesson 
> 
> One-year-old Shireen crawling around on the airport floor so her hands and knees got all black is actually inspired by something in RL from the author in the same age, from the home flight after a family trip to Gran Canaria in 1993


	13. First arrivals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the arrival of the WIP guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lostchildoftheworld, I wrote this (short) chapter in response to those nasty comments that stan left on your stories. Hope that it will cheer you up

Rohan, the new capital called New Edoras: 

Sandor had been pleased by the wrestling training today, it had gone well. The house seemed a bit empty, but he did not doubt that his biological sister and their adopted sister were somewhere. 

“ _ Break away from the chains of bad romance! You will find someone better, give a chance to a second love! Do not fall for the stories of ever-lasting first love, real life is not a fairy tale… _ ” 

Oh, it seemed like they were listening again to the CD with the songs of last year's Song Contest. It had gained a lot of unusual attention, mainly because Princess Sunnwyn, the second sister to the King, had made a big guest appearance with a song she personally had written for the wedding of Prince Théodred later that summer. Then again, Princess Sunnwyn was known as a voice actor outside her royal status and having a fine singing voice, so naturally she used that to become more than just a pretty princess married to a successful officer in the military of Rohan. 

“That song got a new meaning when it turned out that Princess Elia of Dorne was to be the bride.” 

The two former Clegane siblings and Tysha had been even more grateful for their adoption in Rohan, when they had learned about the so called “Royal Mess in Westeros”, as the divorce between Elia Martell and Rhaegar Targaryen was called in this household, their adopted mothers did not waste any time to call the Targaryen King a idiot for getting himself remarried so hasty to a teenage bride who had quickly shown both the royal court in King's Landing and the now Six Kingdoms why she was NOT a ideal for being a Queen consort outside her supposedly promise of fertility and youth. 

“Our moms have been very clear in why the Targaryen King was a fool for throwing away a mature woman who grew up in a similar court by being a daughter to the local ruler and this would know that acting as a spoiled brat is unacceptable for a royal wife…” 

Well, he let Tyshara and Tysha have their fun, they would soon come back to the kitchen to help him make dinner. Their adopted mothers were not at home, due to the fact that they not only had their unusual occupation as a leather carver and female blacksmith, they were part of an elite set of female bodyguards for Queen Elfhild when she traveled aboard. 

“Hmm..they should land soon in Great Moraq, if I remember the travel time right.” 

Brynhild and Kreimhild Marden, a Rohirric lesbian couple that would never have gotten to adopt their three children in Westeros if they had lived there because their relationship would have been viewed as unnatural, yet here in Rohan no one had raised a eyebrow over that they had chosen adoption nine years ago. 

It had been a struggle at first, not merely because of culture crashes for the three children and their shock over that they would be adopted by a couple that was in a same-sex relationship, but also with the horrible burns in his face that Sandor had after what Gregor did to him and Tyshara being paralyzed below the waist since a such clear handicap risked to make her adoption more difficult. But their adopted mothers had not hesitated about the large costs for each one of the operations that would help Sandor look more normal again. And Tyshara had found inspiration for her everyday life in the very Queen consort, since Elfhild needed a wheelchair as well. 

“Hello?” Sandor said in the phone when it was ringing, “Yes, grandma, I will put on the soothing salve for my scars, no worry! My moms did not need to request you and my other grandparents to remind me of that!” 

Of course his four grandparents wanted to keep an eye on them. Sandor was sixteen, but his sisters were still only thirteen and given that Tyshara was handicaped, it was only natural that they needed some supervision while both their mothers were aboard. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

Great Moraq, the so called Imperial airport since this was where visiting WIP guests such as foreign rulers and ambassadors would arrive: 

No one among the present members in the imperial family was surprised over the amount of journalists that had come over the past hour to take photos for their respective newspapers. After all, Sultana Emma hailed from the Kingdom of Rohan and their flight had just landed. 

“Sultana, what are your thoughts about your cousin and his wife taking part of the Horse Olympics as part of the team from Rohan?” 

Of course, she expected that question ever since it came out that the heir to the throne of Rohan and his Dornish princess would not merely be there as guests to watch. 

“For me, it is a sign of cousin Théodred enjoying the freedom he has as a Prince, it will be harder for him when he is King after Uncle Théoden. And I have seen Elia ride, she will place high, no doubt.” 

When he was asked about that detail as well, Sultan Mehmed agreed that the future King and Queen consort of Rohan would give their opponents a good match about winning the medals in dressage for the female riders and show jumping for the male riders. 

“Here they come!” 

Naturally, Elia and Théodred got most of the attention, mainly thanks to that the press had gotten their hands on that King Rhaegar Targaryen had scraped together a team in haste and would soon arrive to have said team try taking part in the Horse Olympics. That was, if the stream boats managed to arrive at the biggest harbour in Great Moraq in time. 

“Princess Elia, how does it feel to be part of the Horse Olympics yourself with your husband?” 

“Oh, it will be very  **_enjoyable,_ ** ” Elia responded honestly, showing off that stunning smile that made her so well-beloved by the press home in Dorne and Rohan. It was not only Théodred who had fallen for that smile.

And then her children caught the attention in a very adorable way by Aegon carrying Elfhild's handbag for her while Rhaenys tried to prove herself helpful in pushing the wheelchair forwards. 

  
  


Not long after, the Martells and Baratheon arrived on their flight. Rhaella and Viserys got some attention when they were spotted among the travelers, naturally, but they refused to respond to any questions related to what Rhaegar possibly planned by arriving at the Horse Olympics in this manner. 

“As far as I know, my idiot to firstborn son is growing desperate to meet the son and daughter he so carelessly threw away with the divorce. It is not like his second marriage has been just as fruitful in terms of the number of children born in said marriage to his  **_Wolf Queen._ ** ” 

With the way she spoke the last two words, Rhaella hinted that she did not like her second daughter-in-law at all. And no one was surprised when some of the gossip newspapers that evening mentioned that little detail. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I liked the idea of one of Théoden's sisters having an unexpected career as a voice actor here in the modern AU. Sunnwyn is a regular guest star in their version of My Little Pony and very good at singing. The song she sang at the Song Contest is inspired by the song “Hero” by Swedish singer Charlotte Perrelli, and yes, it was meant to get attention to that sometimes, you will have a better second marriage than staying in an unhappy one. She wrote it in honor of her nephew being the second husband of Elia 
> 
> Remembering Brynhild, the female blacksmith, and the leather carver Kreimhild who is a lesbian couple mentioned in Foreign Lands? I chose to make them officially married and the adopted parents of Sandor, Tyshara and Tysha here 
> 
> Marden means “the mares pasture” in Old English and I thought that with Rohan in LOTR being inspired by the Anglo-Saxons, that could be a surname for Brynhild and Kreimhild as a hint to their relationship


	14. The important thing in planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Westerosi is not having a easy time to enter Great Moraq

Elia had been visiting Great Moraq once in her teenage years, and found herself loving the culture. Like her father Ihsan, she believed that it was important to know about other countries and cultures outside Westeros, especially as the world had become more and more modern. Aegon V had done several good attempts to modernize his realm in the hope of that Westeros would not be seen as a backwater area that faced mockery from other countries, but alas, it did not fully go as he hoped: 

The Stormlands and Dorne had ended up the most modern places now in the early 21th century, with the rest of Westeros slow to change out from looking like various historical decades from the last hundred years. The Westerlands, for example, could be called stuck in the 1950s thanks to Tywin Lannister refusing to let go of the former power he would have as the Warden of the West, the Reach was now ruled and carefully changed by young Willas Tyrell, newly succeeding his father Mace after that Lord Tyrell had ended up dying from diabetes that he refused to take seriously, Edmure Tully was still a preteen and rumours said that Hoster Tully was already seeking a bride for his son despite his young age. The North and House Stark had a tainted reputation thanks to Lyanna not helped by that they were struggling to adjust modern ideas to how the climate in the North affected general life no matter which social status you had, and the Iron Islands had almost ceased to exist as a separate group out of two centuries of quickly increased poverty that made the Ironborn leave their homes out of desperation and in search for a better life in the North, Reach or Westerlands. 

“Are you thinking of something important, Elia?” Théodred asked as Ashara laid the finishing touch on her jewelry for the welcoming dinner all the important quests would have with the Sultan and Sultana. 

“Just how much the noble houses of Westeros really needs to realise the benefits with absolute primogeniture, because that way, there would be no worry about a lack of heirs. Seriously, women are not merely existing for childbirth and meekly standing back while the men rule.” 

The Vale was a good example of what Elia meant. Currently ruled by the aged Jon Arryn, but his heiress was his sole living offspring Aemma Arryn, the daughter born from his first wife Jeyne Royce and Lord Arryn had lost his ability to sire children from a not very pleasant injury to his groin that he had gotten not long after the birth of his first child, a result of Lord Arryn being paralyzed from the waist down, after getting a heavy stone block on him thanks to slipping on the gravel in the quarry he had been visiting and the rope carrying said stone block suddenly snapping without warning. The lady Aemma, wed to her first-cousin Elbert in order to ensure that no succession crisis would happen at the eventual death of Jon Arryn, was a firm believer of modern beliefs and refused to hand over her position as the heiress to the Vale to her cousin solely for being born female. 

“Yes, Lord Arryn having only his brother and nephew as the male heirs among his daughter and granddaughters, is proof of why the succession needs to be changed. Alys lost her sole son Jasper at the age of three when he was kicked fatally in the head by a spooked horse, and most of her eight daughters have female offspring as well....it is high time for the Ale nobles to realize that the next two Heads of House Arryn will be a mother succeed by a daughter in turn, rather than quarrel about which grandson from his five daughters or son of a cousin that will be Elbert's successor.” 

Théodred laughed nervously, undoubtedly imagining the very scenario that poor Aemma tried to prevent already now while her old father was still alive. He could see why his in-laws and House Baratheon was secretly giving Aemma support for making that change, in the hope of giving the rest of Westeros a firmly needed kick in the butt about modern views. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

As the big welcome banquet to mark the start of the Horse Olympics was only for the adults, the younger guests found themselves with a more age-appropriate dinner. Sure, Visenys and Arianne were the oldest ones with their shared ten years of age, but they saw no problem in sharing a table with Rhaenys, Aegon, the princes Suleiman and Mufasa as well young Shireen Baratheon. 

“A good training with having many cousins,” Arianne said as they enjoyed the fried vegetables served with tomato sauce and yoghurt, saffron pilaf with chicken and bite-sized pieces of cheese. 

“Yeah, more fun with company at the table.” 

Selyse was not the only adult sitting a separate table nearly, Daermon and Jeremy also along with the main nursemaids for the Han princes. 

“Do you think that our great-nephew will manage to arrive in time, miss Florent? Sure, the Westerosi royal court uses steam boats to travel, but I am thinking that they may not have planned every single detail that is needed for this sort of longer absence.” 

“The King and his Stark Queen have never been good at thinking ahead, they have both shown that trait many times,” Selyse replied with a clear disdain before she returned to enjoy the lemon water to have with the meal. 

“I am hoping that Robert will manage to enter the country without trouble even if the others are not allowed to do so because of not having the right papers for all of the people aboard the ocean liners, Rhaelle made sure to help check his passport and other papers so they were not out-of-date.” 

Jeremy nodded in agreement to what his husband said.

“I can imagine more than one problem being found with the horses they have brought along. No vaccinations against foreign illnesses and the like that a veterinarian must fix before a trip abroad.” 

As they had lived in Rohan for most of their adult lives, Daermon and Jeremy knew of how important it was to not bring in dangerous horse illnesses with imported horses or anything else that could be transferred through air or standing close to another horse. 

  
  


In the grand hall where the welcome banquet was held, Elia saw both familiar and new faces. Some were presenting the Free Cities, and others from countries that were from far away. Among those new faces was Gimli son of Glóin, a wealthy banker with some blood ties to the royal family in the Kingdom of Erebor, and Prince Legolas of the Woodland Realm in Mirkwood. 

“So you are a descendant of the younger son, Borin, to King Náin II, master Gimli?” she asked with a carefully trained tact to check so she did not miss all the details of the exact lineage. 

“Yes, Princess. He married the daughter of a well-respected banker, and with me being the fifth generation since Prince Borin, it is rather hard to call ourselves Princes nowadays.” 

Legolas, as well, were not that important in his rank if one looked at the wider image of his family. As a third son of King Thranduil and with both his older brothers married with a couple of children each, he had more freedom to choose what he wanted to do with his own life.

“It is regrettable that King Aragorn and Queen Arwen of Gondor could not come, but her pregnancy is a good reason to not travel now.” 

From what Elia knew, the Kingdom of Gondor would have a new prince or princess not even a month forwards, and no one found it strange that Aragorn wanted to be home with his wife. Instead, it was Boromir, a childhood friend of Théodred, who presented Gondor among the finest guests here. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

In the great harbour that was linked by the main road to the capital of Great Moraq, however, things were not going as smooth. Just as Daermon had guessed only hours earlier, it turned out that Rhaegar and many other of the courtiers from the Targaryen court had forgotten the not so small detail of having the important papers needed to be admitted into another country. 

“We are not allowing you entry before you can show all the needed papers for all the people and horses,” the customs-employed guards and officials repeatedly with growing annoyance. The whole afternoon had been spent in this manner, and now it was late evening.

“Your highness, be quiet instead of starting the same nonsense again!” Aemma Arryn demanded in a tired voice, giving Lyanna a warned glare before she put down some papers on the writing desk, “For those from the Vale, the riders and horses.” 

The head official looked through the papers, seeing the stamps of known vets in the Stormlands and Dorne as proof that all the horses from the Vale were healthy and that all the passports were in order. 

“And this is for me,” Robert Baratheon spoke up, handing over his passport and the papers that his grandmother had helped him with once the order from Rhaegar had come like a thunder from a blue sky some months earlier. 

“You are allowed to pass, Lady Arryn, Lord Baratheon.” 

At once, Rhaegar and Lyanna started to protest against the fact that only the Vale riders were allowed to leave the third ocean liner, but there was nothing they could do about the situation. This was the orders of Sultan Mehmed, because he did not want any of the Westerosi to cause more trouble than what the local authorities could control. 

  
  


Once all the horses from the Vale had been moved to a large horse transport, the riders could follow in a called-after bus that would take them to the capital. 

“I feel sorry for Ned, Brandon and Catelyn having to stay on the boat for the North riders, but alas, I can not help them here,” Robert said as he and Aemma shared a seat in the bus. After nearly a month of travel, it was pleasant to finally be allowed off the ocean liner. 

“We should be grateful that we even got help to find a former mansion that nowadays serves as a boutique hotel just an hour from the capital! Honestly, does that idiot King and his She-wolf think that the imperial palace is going to host all the VIP guests during the Olympics?!” Aemma muttered under her breath, taking up an item from her handbag that her father would never understand to use; the latest cellphone that could be brought in the Stormlands. Without doubt, she would call one of her daughters to let the family know that she had managed to enter Great Moraq and would be seen as the leader of the riders from the Vale. 

“I did the same, letting Stannis know that I was allowed entry.” 

It was far too late for dinner when they arrived at the boutique hotel, nearly midnight in fact, but Robert felt too tired to eat anything now. Instead, a proper bed to sleep in was far more tempering and he could eat a pleasant breakfast tomorrow instead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I headcanon Edmure to be born in 274 A.C, he is roughly 12 years old currently and by this Westeros not accepting marriages below the age of 16 years, I imagine that Willas was born in 276 A.C when his mother Alerie Hightower was roughly 19 years old based on the known facts about different possible birth years on the ASOIAF wiki 
> 
> As for why I had Mace dying at a young age from diabetes, well, in canon set in 300 A.C, he is mentioned to have added in weight compared from his youth and he does not seem like a person that would realize the resulting health issues from the food that nobles are more likely to be served all their lives (lots of sugar from sweets and desserts, imported wines, food high in calorics and the sort of food that the commoners would not be able to afford in the same amount) 
> 
> Yes, I made the in-canon stillborn daughter to Jon Arryn and Jeyne Royce be alive here and named for the mother of Rhaenyra Targaryen. She is very set on changing the current Arryn succession to that of absolute primogeniture, on the grounds that the Vale can not keep expecting women wed into House Arryn to risk their health and lives in childbirth for repeated attempts of giving the husbands a living son and I headcanon that she, like her paternal aunt Alys, have birthed a lot of daughters rather than the “needed” male heirs
> 
> If anyone wonders why I made Legolas a third son instead of being a only child to Thranduil, I am borrowing that idea from a long-time favorite Tolkien fanfic of mine called Sansûkh


End file.
